


Shield of Glass

by robotjellyfish



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Klance secret santa, M/M, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2018-09-10 22:57:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8942875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robotjellyfish/pseuds/robotjellyfish
Summary: Keith is hurt protecting Lance in battle and when Keith comes out of the pod the outcome isn't exactly as every expected. Now Keith has to begin his relationship with Lance, and everyone else all over again. a klance secret santa gift





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ssuppositiouss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssuppositiouss/gifts).



> Happy Holidays I hope you enjoy this first chapter of your fic. i'm sorry it's not finished but the rest will come soon. No real warning for this fic, I promise everything will work out.

“Lance!”

  


The desperate shout of his name was the only warning Lance received before he felt a firm, solid body collide with him, shoving him out of the way, face first into the ground, then there was a sickening crack.

  


For a moment Lance was sure he’d broken something, the crack sounded like the snap of bone but there was no pain. He could still move his arms and legs. He turned onto his side to take in his surroundings, the chaotic battlefield the ship's hallways had become, the huddled group of prisoners he’d been about to shield with his own body, and Keith standing over him, swaying drunkenly.

  


Keith?

  


“Lance...are you ok?” Keith’s words were slurred and slow and there was blood dripping down the side of his face. His sword weighed heavily in his hand, his arm shaking as he tried to find the strength to lift it and attack the Galran sentry that raised its broken blaster a second time, wielding it as a makeshift club, ready to hit Keith again and finish the job.

  


Keith wasn't wearing his helmet, it had been throw off in agitation earlier as they ran from the soldiers chasing them. The crack Lance heard had been the sentry's broken weapon hitting his skull, a blow meant for Lance but Keith had thrown himself in its path.

  


There was no time to think or wonder why Keith had protected him. Lance flipped onto his back, bayard raised, and let off a shot that skirted just over Keith's shoulder and hit the robot right between the eyes. Sparks flew from its head, it's arms fell heavily to its sides, and the broken gun dropping to the floor with a clatter before it's lifeless body followed.

  


For a moment everything was silent.

  


“Nice shot,” Keith laughed thickly. There was more blood, the whole right side of his face dyed red. Redder than his suit, redder than his lion. It was a sickening red that made Lance's stomach churn. Keith swayed his arms, shaking as he still tried to lift his sword even though there were no more enemies to fight. He lost his grip and his weapon fell to the floor, his body tilted forward, unable to stand any longer.

  


“Keith!” Lance jumped to his feet and caught Keith in his arms before he could fall onto his own bayard, which lay forgotten at his feet.

  


“I'm ok,” Keith slurred even as his head fell heavily on Lance's shoulder, his whole weight leaning on Lance as his legs refused to hold him up.

  


“Okay? Yeah, right. What the hell did you do that for, you idiot!” Lance yelled, his mouth running away with him in his worry. There was no retort.

  


“Keith? Hey Keith, buddy, stay with me!” Lance called, shakily drawing other boy closer to him. It seemed a testament to just how hard Keith had been hit that he didn't push Lance away, leaning into him instead with a pained groan.

  


“Quiznak,” Lance cursed shifting Keith's weight in his arms to get a better grip on him.

  


“Keith come on you have to stay awake. Talk to me,” he said dragging one of Keith's arms over his shoulder, his other arm wrapped securely around Keith's waist. It left him no hands free to fight but they’re safe (for now) and Keith was in no condition to walk on his own. Lance had to get them all out of there. Quickly.

  


He turned to the prisoners, only three in all, each a different alien species. They were huddled together with wide, frightened eyes fixed on the sentry's body as if they expected it to rise up again at any moment.

  


“Are any of you hurt?” he asked in a voice firmer and far more calm than he really felt. It snapped the aliens out of their trance and drew their attention to him. They looked at each other with a silent question, each shaking their head in turn before turning back to Lance.

  


“We are unharmed thanks to you and your friend,” the smallest, eldest looking one replied. Her voice shook but held a measure of authority as she tried to keep a level head.

  


There was no immediate threat, no more soldiers chasing them but the sirens still blared. The escape pod was close by, freedom within their grasp. Lance just had to get them all there alive.

  


“Right. Good. Keith, buddy you have anything you want to add?” Lance asked, his voice getting a little desperate as he tried to hoist Keith's dead weight a little higher against his side. Keith hung in his grip limply.

  


“Noisy….big mouth…idiot...” Keith complained. Good, he was still conscious.

  


The abandoned bayards caught Lance’s eyes and he longed to hold is own in his hands if only to feel safe, to feel like he could protect them all.

  


“I need you…..I need you guys to grab those,” he said indicating the bayards with a jerk of his head. “Just hold on to them for me, and stay behind me. The escape pod isn’t far so as long as we’re quick…”

  


‘ _and lucky’_ he thought to himself. There was still plenty that could happen in the precious few feet between here and the pod.

  


“Let's go,” he said giving the other aliens little time to comply. There was no room for hesitation or doubt.

  


The smallest alien, who had spoken up earlier, took Keith's sword, another around Hunk's build held onto the gun while the final prisoner, a lanky thing with long arms who looked the most frightened of all of them hid behind the other two.

  


“So Keith is this our new thing now? Me cradling you in my arms?” Lance asked with forced joviality, hoping his usual jokes would draw some response from the other. Keith mumbled something in reply. His weight fell heavier on Lance’s shoulder but he was still moving his feet, even if just barely.

  


Lance half lead, half dragged Keith towards the escape pod with the nervous aliens following close behind.

  


They were moving too slow, but Lance was reluctant to force them into a run due to Keith’s condition.

  


“Ok buddy I think we're going to have to take this cradling thing to the next level,” Lance teased his voice shaking. There was no response from Keith. Well that settled it then. Without hesitating a moment longer Lance swept Keith up, carrying him princess style. Lance stilled for a moment, shifting Keith's weight in his arms. The other boy may have been shorter than him but damn he was heavy.

  


“And he's all muscle too, I bet,” he grumbled under his breath.

  


“We’re going to make a run for it. My friend needs to get to a healing pod fast. Just follow me and don't stop for anything,” he called over his shoulder before breaking into a run. The hurried footsteps behind him told him the aliens were following.

  


By some miracle they didn’t run into any more enemies and the escape pod was intact and unlocked. They were going to make it.

  


Lance dived through the open doors, clutching Keith close to his chest. Although there were layers of clothes and armour between them, Keith felt like ice. Lance felt his own blood run cold, he had to hurry.

  


He only spared the aliens a brief glance, a swift headcount telling him all three were there. He slammed his elbow into the launch button, causing the doors to close with a hiss and the pod to take off with a juddering start. The aliens cried in surprise and stumbled, even Lance almost lost his footing, slamming his back against the wall so he could remain standing.

  


Now all that was left was to get to the castle of lions. Allura was waiting for the pod, she’d pick them up right away.

  


“Please hurry,” Lance muttered, looking down at Keith who looked even paler than usual, his skin a stark white compared to the bright red covering one side of his face, matting his dark hair. His eyes were closed and his head lolled to one side, his body limp like a rag doll.

  


“Keith…” Lance croaked, his voice cracking as he tried not to cry. He was worried, scared, and it was all his fault Keith had gotten hurt.

  


Lance crouched to the floor, Keith cradled in his lap, one arm wrapped around the red paladins shoulders leaving his other hand free. Lance pressed the fingers of his free hand against Keith's throat to look for a pulse only to realise he wasn't really sure how to find it, and even if he had known his hand was shaking too much.

  


He moved his fingers instead to Keith’s mouth, holding them against pale lips to feel the warm, reassuring breath coming from them. He was still breathing. Lance let out a choked gasp and wrapped both arms around the others still form cradling him close.

  


“Paladin of Voltron….will your friend be ok?” asked one of the aliens he’d just rescued. Lance didn't look up to see who had spoken, but judging by the voice he was sure it was the elder female. A gentle hand rested on his shoulder, he could feel the presence of another crouching down next to him but he couldn't look, couldn't answer, he could only hold Keith tighter as the question repeated over and over in his head.

  


Will Keith be ok?

  


He just didn't know.

 

* * *

 

  


As soon as they docked Lance wasted no time with explanations. He burst out of the ship and practically ran to the med bay with Allura, Coran and Shiro following as soon as they saw Keith.

  


The rescued aliens were almost forgotten in the confusion but Hunk noticed them as they stepped out of the escape pod cautiously after Lance. Hunk took it upon himself to care for them, trusting the others to look after Keith. Pidge ashen and shaken at the sight of Keith so pale and covered in so much blood followed Hunk and the rescued aliens silently. She didn't question them about her family once as they led them to somewhere more comfortable.

  


“It was quite the blow but a quintant or two in the pod should fix up his noggin good as new,” Coran said brightly once they'd gotten Keith into the pod. The screen he was reading from lit up with all sorts of readings that none of them, except for Coran and Allura, could read but it meant Keith was going to be ok. He was going to live.

  


Lance sank to the floor, his strength giving out.

  


“He's going to be ok….” he said to himself, voice shaking.

  


“You did well to bring him here so quickly, my boy. If you’d taken any longer….” Coran let his words trail off, realising that perhaps they weren't as reassuring as he’d first thought as Lance went pale.

  


“It's all my fault. I didn't have time to shoot, I think. I don't know any more. But the enemy was aiming for the prisoners so I just...and then Keith took the blow for me...” Lance babbled.

  


“Lance.” Shiro's voice, gentle yet firm cut across his rambling stopping him with a warm hand on his shoulder. Shiro crouched down in front of Lance and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze as he waited for the brunet to look up at him before he said anything more.

  


“You did an excellent job of getting him and the prisoners out of there. You got everyone back here safe. You got Keith back here safe, in time. It's thanks to you that he's going to be ok. You did so well.” Shiro smiled lifting his hand to ruffle Lance's hair. “Thank you, Lance.”

  


Lance felt like he was going to cry all over again. He dropped his head, sucked in a shaky breath and somehow managed to keep the tears at bay.

  


“Ok,” he mumbled, his voice croaking as he lifted his head again, but he didn’t cry.

  


“Why don’t you go take a shower and get some rest? You’ve earned it,” Shiro suggested kindly.

Lance didn't reply at first, casting an anxious look to the healing pod instead. He didn't want to leave.

  


“Keith isn't coming out of there any time soon. I'll keep watch over him until you get back,” Shiro added a little more firmly as he gently grabbed Lance by the arm and hoisted him to his feet.

  


“Ok...”

  


It took a nudge to his back to finally get Lance moving and even then his gaze lingered on the pod as he headed towards the doors. He eventually looked away, leaving the med bay with his shoulder hunched and head bowed.

  


“Well I suppose I should go check on those prisoners they rescued. Will you be ok here Shiro?” Allura stepped forward stopping beside him, her hands clasped in front of her painfully tight. She was worried too.

  


“I'll be fine, princess, don't worry about me.” Shiro smiled weakly.

  


“Yes, don't worry princess I'll keep Shiro company for a while, there's still some things I need to check.” Coran piped up brightly, evidently taking it upon himself to be a positive influence.

Allura still looked worried, perhaps even more so.

  


“Well, if you need anything...” she said, a tired sigh punctuating her words. She left the room with her back stiff and straight, her head held high. Shiro knew she was blaming herself for sending just the two of them on that mission, that she was currently running through various scenarios in her head of how this could have been avoided.

  


“He really is going to be ok, isn’t he?” Shiro asked once he and Coran were alone.

  


“Oh yes. The pod will heal all his physical injuries up right as rain.” There was a pregnant pause in which Shiro held his breath.

  


“But I do worry about his mind. Nasty thing, a bump to the head. It can do things to you.” Coran sighed, his cheerful facade slipping, showing his own worry.

  


“Keith's a fighter. I’m sure he’ll be ok,” Shiro said firmly to reassure himself as much as Coran.

  


“Yes I suppose you’re right. I’m always amazed at how tenacious you humans are,” Coran chuckled drawing a smile from Shiro.

  


All they could do now was wait.

 

* * *

 

 

Lance returned to the med bay less than an hour later, his face looking fresher after the shower but the dark bags under his eyes giving away his fatigue.

  


“Did you even try to get some sleep?” Shiro chided though there was no bite to his words. He understood.

  


“I’ll sleep here,” Lance replied, wrapping the blanket he’d bought with him around his shoulders he walked over to the pod and made himself comfortable on the floor in front of it.

  


“Ok, I'll get you some more blankets and pillows, so at least try to rest.” Shiro knew there was no use arguing and Lance would probably sleep better near Keith, where he could keep an eye on him, anyway. Shiro felt the urge to stay beside the pod too, just as he did whenever any of the team got injured, but Shiro could not simply stay in one place for the whole night.

  


Lance nodded tugging the blanket closer around him. He stared at the pod unmoving, his gaze fixed on Keith's pale face. Although they'd mostly cleaned the blood off his face there were still traces of it left, especially in his hair and his skin had an odd, waxy sheen that made everything look a hundred times worse.

  


“Watch out for him for me.” Shiro said softly as he left the room.

  


“I will.” Lance’s reply followed him, quiet yet determined.

 

* * *

 

  


Hunk returned with the blankets and a mound of pillows having run into Shiro. After asking about Lance, he'd insisted on taking them to his friend. Plus Shiro had looked like he was in need of a break, so Hunk had gently guided him into the kitchen and set him down with some alien coffee before hurrying off to gather all the spare pillows and blankets he could find.

  


“Lance, hey bro,” Hunk called to the eerily silent boy as he walked into the room. It felt unnatural and wrong to see Lance so quiet, so still. It made Hunk worry even more.

  


“It's pretty cold in here, huh?” Hunk commented as he dropped the bundle of blankets and pillows on the floor near Lance. Lance didn't so much as flinch, he hardly seemed to notice Hunk was there but the small tilt of his head, eye flickering towards him for a moment with a flash of gratitude before returning to keep vigil on the pod was enough to tell Hunk Lance knew he was there, and was glad to see him.

  


Hunk pulled a blanket from the pile first wrapping it around Lance's hunched shoulders. Lance's lips twitched in a small, thankful smile, his hand brushing Hunk's for a moment in acknowledgement.

  


After that Hunk began to build a nest of pillows around his friend, draping a few of the blankets over the pile once he set up a comfortable enough spread. With that done he nudged Lance onto the pillow pile, building up the rest of the blankets and pillows around Lance once the brunet had gotten comfortable. By the time he was done, Lance was practically being smothered.

  


“Lance?” Hunk called softly. Lance hadn't taken his eyes off the pod the entire time and now he was done Hunk carefully settled down on the pillow nest beside Lance gently resting his shoulder against his friends.

  


“I'm ok,” Lance answered in a voice that told Hunk he was definitely not ok

.

“Come on, lie down. Try to get some sleep,” Hunk coaxed tugging Lance's shoulder pulling him back onto the pillows with him. Lance fell with little resistance.

  


“Do you think he'll hate me?” Lance asked and Hunk could have laughed had the situation not been so serious.

  


“Keith? Dude Keith didn't even hate you when you were being a complete ass to him, and he protected you right? He won't hate you for this.”

  


“But…he got hurt because of my mistake…”

  


“Keith knew the risk he was taking and he'd rather let himself get hurt than see his friend hurt, just like a certain someone I know,” Hunk teased. Lance smiled, albeit weakly, silent tears running down his cheeks.

  


“He's going to be ok,” Hunk said firmly, nudging Lance shoulder, voice oozing with confidence. He'd seen the state Lance had been in after the bomb blast and the magic that the healing pod worked in putting him back together good as new. If Coran said Keith was going to be ok then Hunk believed him.

  


“Thanks Hunk,” Lance's voice was firmer but still tinged with worry and tears.

  


“Do you want anything to eat?” Hunk asked turning the conversation to food, a subject that always comforted him.

  


“I’m not hungry, but a glass of water would be nice.”

  


“Coming right up, buddy.”

  


When Hunk returned it was to find Lane fast asleep curled up on the edge of the pillows as close to the pod as he could get. The mice had joined him, sleeping on his shoulder and in the curve of his neck.

  


“Well I’m glad someone's here to keep you company.” Hunk whispered, moving as quietly as he could towards his sleeping friend. He set down the glass of water and a sandwich, which he’d had the good sense to wrap up so Lance could keep it for later, on the floor near Lance’s head so he would see them when he woke.

  


Hunk stepped away, lifting his head to look at Keith suspended in the pod. He hadn't really gotten a good look at him when they arrived, he’d only seen more red than was normal on the red paladin and the way Lance desperately clung to him.

  


He looked pale, Hunk noted, but not as pale as before the pod having already bought a little colour back to his complexion.

  


“Wake up soon...we need you,” he said to the pod knowing Keith couldn’t hear him but needing to say the words anyway.

  


* * *

  
  


Three quintants. Three days. That was how long Coran estimated recovery would take. Of course it all depended on a multitude of factors so it could take longer. It was unlikely to be less than that.

  


On the first day Lance didn't leave the pod, not even to eat, and no one tried to drag him away. They knew it was pointless. They took turns sitting with him instead. Pidge bought a gadget she could tinker with, explaining to Lance what she was doing and how it worked, even though he didn't really reply. He was listening. When she grew tired she curled up next to him on the pillows and napped. He was glad for her company.

  


Hunk took on the task of waiter, bringing all of Lance’s meals to him interspersed with various test dishes he was working on. Some tasted good and some tasted awful but Lance enjoyed trying them, he particularly enjoyed Pidge's reaction when she tried one of the particularly disgusting dishes. Her expression had finally brought a smile back to his face.

  


Coran buzzed around all day making up various tasks to keep him in the med bay for most of the day, keeping a watchful eye over Lance. Allura  spent most of her time there with them too, though she was quiet and distant at first, still finding it hard sometimes to join her paladins, especially in situations like this when one of them was hurt. It took a teary apology from Lance for his failure to complete the mission successfully to bring her onto the pillow bed with them. It wasn't his fault, she assured him, and she knew blaming herself and moping would get her nowhere. She relaxed, just a little. Her paladins needed her, and she would take care of them.

  


Shiro walked in and out between patrols and various other tasks that kept him busy during the day. As the first day turned into night and Hunk, Pidge and Allura were ushered off to bed by Coran, Shiro joined Lance for a little longer, settling down on the sea of pillows next to him. It had grown since Hunk had initially bought the first load after Pidge and Allura had spent several hours that morning scouring the castle top to bottom for every last pillow they could find.

  


“He’s looking better already.” Shiro noted, his voice holding a hint of relief.

  


“Yeah…he's always been pale though so it’s kinda hard to tell,” Lance chuckled, his laugh a little forced but it was real. Shiro let out a sigh, a weight lifting from his shoulders at seeing Lance's smile.

  


“He sees you as a friend, you know,” Shiro said softly. With his gaze on the pod again, he missed how Lance’s face twisted with emotion, the blush that rose in his cheeks.

  


“He hasn’t had many friends so he can be a bit awkward but he cares about you, all of you.” Shiro’s words always held such weight that it was impossible not to believe him. Shrinking in on himself Lance tugged a blanket around him, pulling it over his head. Shiro bit back a laugh a how suddenly bashful the other was being.

  


“I should have tried to shoot that robot… I should have-”

  


“Lance.” Shiro’s hand landed on the blanket lump round about where he figured Lance’s shoulder was and squeezed.

  


“You did what you thought was best in the situation, and so did Keith. In a fight like that you have to make split second decisions. It was no one's fault.” He held on to Lance's shoulder, waited until he felt the tension ease a little from the other's body before he let go.

  


“However, maybe after this and Keith is out of the pod, perhaps we can have some words about this tendency you two have for throwing yourselves in harms way to protect someone. The pair of you are already making me go grey,” Shiro chuckled, tugging at the white tuft of hair brushing over his forehead. Although his tone was teasing, there was an underlying edge to it that promised a lecture later.

  


“I'll try. But you know I think that mullet of his muffles out sound or something. He never listens,” Lance grumbled a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. Shiro laughed.

  


Shiro left after a while, instructing Lance to at least try to sleep, although he didn't really expect the other boy to listen. He returned a few times during the night to check on them. Keith, of course, remained in the pod, his condition unchanged. Lance unsurprisingly stayed awake for a long time. On the first few visits, Lance had been quiet, staring at the pod thoughtfully but later in the night, towards what they measured would be early morning in earth time, Lance began talking to the pod. To Keith.

  


At first his words were confused and angry. “Why did you do that? You should have just let me get hit you idiot!” but they soon tapered into gentler words. “I’m sorry. Next time, I’ll protect you. I’ll try harder not to get in trouble so please...wake up soon.”

  


Eventually he ran out of promises and words of blame and just settled on talking about anything that came to mind. He told Keith how the prisoners they’d rescued were doing, he repeated the stories Hunk and Pidge had told him about what they’d missed during the day, he talked about Keith, about how much he infuriated him and how he didn't really hate him, not really. He spoke about Earth, his family and how much he missed them. He asked Keith if he missed Earth too and carried on speaking even when he didn’t get an answer.

  


Shiro lingered by the door during each visit simply listening. He didn't want to go in or interrupt Lance and although he felt bad for eavesdropping it was good to hear Lance’s voice, hear it grow more animated and alive. More like Lance.

  


By the time it was truly morning, Lance had fallen asleep curled up in a messy knot of blankets, the mice sleeping on his shoulder and his head. Seeing Lance asleep at last, Shiro finally felt tired enough to get some sleep too. He’d done enough patrolling for one night. He would wake up early though, he decide, hopefully catching Allura before she decided to set off any alarms or start any training sessions. Shiro saw how restless and anxious she was getting, looking for something to distract herself with. Even in her worry she was still strict and fierce and Shiro was sure the training sessions would start up again at any moment if he didn't step in and say something. A few days off wouldn't hurt.

  


The second day began much the same as the first, though when Lance woke he willingly left the pod for a short period of time without any prompting. His port of call was a shower and to restart his skin care routine, which he'd neglected for far too long. Too long being only about a day and a half but the broken sleep schedule and anxiety he was going through was already playing havoc with his skin and Lance would not allow himself to look haggard and washed out when Keith finally did wake up. He wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing just how much he'd worried.

  


Lance returned to the pod after speeding through his skin care routine, skipping breakfast which Coran brought to him shortly after. He ran some diagnostic checks on Keith's pod while Lance ate, filling him in on the events of breakfast and how huffy and offended Allura had been when Shiro spoke to her about giving them some more time off.

  


“She insisted she was going to wait until Keith woke up anyway but personally, oh and don't tell Allura I said this, I believe she wanted to at least run some drills to distract herself as well as you lot.” Coran chuckled, remembering how red in the face Shiro had gotten at Allura's pouting.

  


“She means well, and she care for all of you, but this war...”

  


“I know,” Lanced filled the silence smiling at Coran over his bowl of breakfast goo.

  


“This war is tough. It takes a lot out of her...out of all of us. But I know she has our best interest at heart…even if she does show it with early morning drills and invisible maze walls that zap you.”

  


They both laughed.

  


“Thank you,” Coran chuckled once their laughter had died down.

  


Pidge and Hunk spent the rest of the day with him again, managing to drag Lance off to join them for dinner. Coran promised to stay with Keith while he ate.

  


After dinner, the three of them headed straight back to the med bay along with Shiro and Allura. They all perched comfortably on the pillows and just talked though they all cast repeated anxious glances to the healing pod. Keith was looking a lot better, his complexion was back to normal and the pod had even managed to clean away the matted blood from his hair somehow. It was still too early for him to come out, and Coran had said he was making good progress but they were all anxious to see Keith again, awake and healthy.

  


They spent the rest of their evening there slipping in and out of the room whenever another urgent task called or they just needed to stretch their legs. Lance, stubbornly, refused to leave even once, the shower and dinner he'd spent away earlier had been enough.

  


He slept in front of the pod again that night. Shiro tried half heartedly to get him to go back to his room, at least to sleep, but Lance stubbornly tugged the blankets more securely around himself and promised he would go to sleep early and not stay up all night. It was good enough and really the best Shiro could hope for.

  


The third day began and it seemed they'd all fallen into the new routine. There was no morning alarm, no drills. Lance woke, showered and took care of his usual routine, then hurried back to the med bay. Pidge arrived with his breakfast and sat with him while he ate, eventually wandering off to tinker with one of her gadgets.

  


Allura spent much of her time there too, still at a loss as to what to do with herself without any training exercises to focus on. For once Lance didn't flirt with her even when they were alone, didn't make any awkward passes or use any pick up lines, they just talked comfortably. Lance regaled her with stories of earth, of the Garrison and his and Keith's 'rivalry'. Most of the stories might have been lies and all were definitely over-exaggerated but Allura laughed and played along. She shared her own stories of Altea, compared how Altea trained it's soldiers with the Garrisons training.

  


“Still that seems a rather inefficient way to do things, I find real life experience is far more beneficial than a simulation.”

  


“Right! And I'm pretty sure those simulations are rigged anyway. There's no way I would have crashed a real ship as often as that fake thing.”

  


Later that day Lance was once again enticed away to eat dinner with everyone by Hunk, on the promise that it would be quick and Allura would stay with Keith while he was gone. A different kind of tension hung over dinner today compared to the dinner both Keith and Lance had missed a couple of days before. They were anxious for Keith to wake, knowing it would most likely be tomorrow some time...but that it could be tonight.

  


Lance ate quickly, almost choking on the food goo in his hurry. Hunk and even Shiro ate more hurriedly than usual while Pidge took small, anxious bites and didn't seem to be able to eat much. Only Coran took it all in his stride eating the tasteless goo with his usual gusto.

  


“Shouldn't be too long now. The last checks I ran pegged the time at around midday tomorrow,” Coran said brightly, sensing the tension around the table. He tried to dispel it in his usual manner.

  


Pidge set her space spork down and couldn't eat any more.

  


“Do you think he'll have a headache when he comes out? Do those pods heal headaches?” she asked, staring at her bowl of half eaten goo. They'd all seen the blood, how bad the injury had looked.

  


“Oh no don't worry the pod heals all that ails you. He'll be right as rain. Of course just because the pods can heal all your aches and pains doesn't mean you should use them for just anything. Overuse can do some strange things to your body so they're really only used for serious injuries,” Coran warned with a tug on his moustache.

  


“Wait what was that about doing strange things to your body? What strange things?” Hunk asked anxiously.

  


“Oh nothing to worry about. It's really only if you use it repeatedly over a long period of time...but it's always best to be careful.”

  


The four paladins shared dubious looks but none were brave enough to comment further. Though a silent agreement passed between them that they would try even harder not to get hurt badly enough to need the pod.

  


“I'm done, going back to the pod. I'll take a bowl of goop for Allura,” Lance said brightly as he jumped to his feet and made his escape to the kitchen.

  


“I'll come with you.” Pidge scuttled after him, catching him in the kitchen as he filled a bowl with a fresh serving of goo. The two walked back to the med bay together, Pidge chatting animatedly at his side.

  


“It really would be fascinating to see how those pods work. I mean those things were built ten thousand years ago can you imagine how much technology would have advanced if not for….well you know….” Pidge trailed off awkwardly casting a quick look around to make sure Allura or Coran weren't within ear shot. She didn't want to unintentionally remind them of something painful. “Actually technology everywhere out here is way more advanced than Earth's. There's bound to be something to counteract the bad side effects by now. Do you think Allura will let me take one apart? If I could just figure out how it worked..”

  


“Hmm I dunno. Maybe if you ask Santa really nicely he'll help you out,” Lance teased.

  


Pidge shot him a filthy look and stalked ahead, beating him to the med bay where she made a beeline for the healing pod. She pressed her face up against the glass, eyes narrowed as she scrutinized Keith closely, looking for any peculiarities.

  


“Hmm, he doesn't look any different,” she mumbled pressing her face closer, making her glasses go crooked.

  


Allura watched with a perplexed scowl.

  


“Don't worry about it, Princess. Are you hungry?” Lance said as he attempted to distract her from Pidge's odd behaviour with an offering of food.

  


“Oh, thank you,” she said distractedly as she took the bowl, her eyes still on Pidge.

  


“Anyway, what do you say to throwing a party when Keith wakes up? We could pretend it's Christmas or something and really confuse him,” Lance chuckled as he plopped down on the pillow nest beside Allura effectively distracting her from Pidge's scrutiny of the pod.

  


“That doesn't seem very nice. Don't you remember how disorientated you were when you first came out of the pod,” she chided.

  


“I know. I'm only joking. About the Christmas part anyway, not the party,” Lance mumbled, the tips of his ears going red in embarrassment.

  


“Perhaps a small celebration wouldn't hurt,” Allura mused.

  


“It'll be a late 'mission accomplished' party and a, you know, hey we're all still alive and together kind of thing,” Lance said eagerly, his legs bouncing in excitement.

  


“I'll see what I can do,” Allura promised.

  


Pidge moved away from the pod joining them on the pillows.

  


“A party might be nice. We haven't had a chance to relax and do something fun together for a while,” she chirped as she rearranged her glasses.

  


“Then it's settled. Will you help me Pidge? Perhaps you can teach me some of your Earth party traditions,” Allura said, her eyes glowing with excitement.

  


“Sure. I mean one of my favourite thing about parties are the party games. There's all sorts you can play, usually depending on the type of party,” Pidge said before running off a list of her favourite party games, explaining how to play them, occasionally running off a story of her own experience playing the games with her family and friends.

  


Allura was fascinated and gave a list of her own favourite Altean games, some of which were similar to ones on Earth, others that sounded more dangerous than fighting a fleet of Galra ships.

  


Lance mostly listened to them and ordinarily he would have chipped in with a comment of how they could play some more 'mature' games like spin the bottle and seven minutes in heaven but the words wouldn't come out. They didn't need to. His flirting with Allura had long since reached the point of being just a familiar joke and Pidge was his teammate, his friend. And there was also the fact that Keith was in the pod beside them and even though he knew Keith couldn't hear them his stomach twisted oddly at the thought of Keith hearing him mention seven minutes in heaven.

So Lance listened chipping in with mentions of his own favourite games that he always played with his siblings at their birthdays.

  


“But a party really needs cake. I wonder if Hunk's managed to find any cake-like ingredients,” Pidge mused as their discussion of party games turned to party food.

  


“Hunk's been doing pretty well in the kitchen lately. Even if it's not quite a cake he could probably whip up something close to it,” Lance said, eagerly confident in Hunk's ability to create something far more edible than their staple green goo.

  


“I'll go talk to him.” Pidge leaped to her feet and was gone before either of them could say anything.

  


“Oh well, guess I'll stay here then...” Allura mumbled sulkily.

  


“It's ok, Princess, you can go too if you want, I was just thinking of taking a nap anyway,” Lance said. He could tell how eager she was to help with the party, how restless she had been.

  


“I didn't mean...” she said quickly but Lance interrupted her with a smile.

  


“I know,” he said, flopping down on the pillows with an exaggerated yawn.

  


“Ok if you're sure. Call if you need anything, I'll send Shiro to keep you company in a bit.” She said before she left.

  


“So are you a party person Keith?” Lance asked looking up at the pod. Keith didn't seem like the party type. At the first and only celebration they'd had so far, Keith had seemed a little lost with the whole thing, sticking close to Hunk the entire time. Which Lance totally understood. Hunk always gave a warm air of security. But then again Keith hadn't seemed like he hated the whole thing, at least as far as Lance saw. He was probably the type who had fun as long as he was with people he knew. Well it would just be the seven of them who lived in the castle, and the mice too of course. That shouldn't be a problem.

  


“I can't wait to see you play pin the tail on the lion,” Lance sniggered, it was the version they'd decided to go with, it just made sense.

  


Shiro came shortly after Allura left, sitting with Lance for a while before he reminded him it was best to get to sleep early. Shiro didn't bother to try and get Lance to go to his own room, he knew Lance was too anxious. He was anxious too.

  


So they sat together in tense, companionable silence until Lance lost his battle with his fatigue. He'd never been very good at staying up late and all the worrying had really taken it out of him. The mice, as usual, curled up against him after he'd fallen asleep.

  


Shiro stayed for a while even though there was no sign of any stirring from the pod and Lance remained fast asleep. He knew he should take his own advice and get an early night but he wanted to watch over them. He wanted to be there to shake Lance awake just in case Keith did come out of the pod during the night.

  


He stayed awake for most of the night, dozing in short spurts when it got too quiet. But there was no movement from the pod and Lance slept soundly.

  


Sometime during the late night or the early morning Hunk sneaked into the room with them curling up on the pillows next to Lance even as Shiro watched him with a questioning quirk of his eyebrow. Pidge joined later, sneaking in so quietly that Shiro didn't even notice her until he heard the sound of her light breathing mingle with the other two in sleep.

  


Eventually Shiro was lulled to sleep for a few short hours waking when Coran came into the med bay shortly before breakfast was due to start to run some early morning checks. Shiro looked around groggily his gaze automatically moving to the pod before turning to the other three paladins when he saw Keith was still inside it, unmoved.

  


Lance had slept restlessly, he was now sprawled out in the middle of the pillows long limbs thrown out at odd angles leaving little room for the others. Hunk had rolled to the edge of the pillows, one of Lance's feet shoved against his thigh and Pidge curled up against his back. The mice had abandoned Lance during the night, curling up on Hunk's broad shoulders where it was safer. It was times like these Shiro wished he had a camera.

  


“Everything all right?” Coran asked softly.

  


“Yeah, they all seem to have slept well.” Shiro smiled fondly.

  


“And what about you?”

  


“I slept,” Shiro answered wryly.

  


A look passed between the two of them but Coran said no more, turning his attention to the screens instead to study the readings from Keith's pod.

  


There was no news, no change. Keith's condition had improved greatly, he was completely healed. It was now just a matter of time. Shiro didn't bother waking the others, letting them sleep a little longer. Shiro left a short while later to fetch some breakfast for everyone. He figured they could all eat in the med bay today.

  


Lance was the first to wake having slept pretty well despite his tossing and turning. He blinked slowly, looking around feeling rather disoriented. Although he'd woken up here for the past few night now it still took him a moment to remember where he was.

  


As soon as he realised he sat bolt upright eyes zooming over to the pod. Keith was still there. He let out a sigh that was both one of relief and frustration. He was glad he hadn't missed anything but when was Keith going to wake up? It had to be today right?

  


He noticed Pidge and Hunk, still asleep next to him. Lance smiled, pulling his legs up to his chest and resting his chin on his knees as he watched them. It was nice, if he ignored how worried they all were about Keith, they were coming together like a family more and more. The thought made him remember his own family back on Earth, made his chest ache but seeing his friends next to him, the ache subsided just a little.

  


He looked up at Keith again, still in the pod, still no sign of movement and a different ache grew. It was one he'd felt before, one that had been growing and changing for a while now but one he had been trying not to think too much about.

  


He was saved from thinking about it even then as Shiro and Allura walked into the room, Shiro carrying a tray filled with bowls of goo.

  


“Oh, you're awake,” Shiro paused in the doorway surprised to see Lance up, it was still pretty early.

  


“Can't let sleeping beauty here wake up before me,” Lance joked, jabbing a thumb towards the pod. Shiro smiled walking over to the group with the bowls of goo while Allura hid a grin behind her hand.

  


“I figured we could all have breakfast here,” he said letting Lance take one of the bowls before setting the tray down with the others for later.

  


“Thanks, Shiro. You're the best!” Lance cheered, digging into his breakfast with more enthusiasm than usual. Shiro was glad to see Lance was mostly back to himself but there was a forcefulness to his actions that betrayed how worried he still was. None of them would truly be able to relax until Keith was out of the pod and they knew he was ok.

  


Coran and Allura joined Shiro and Lance in front of the pod, talking in hushed voices while they ate so as to let Pidge and Hunk sleep a little longer.

  


Hunk was the first to wake, dragging a half asleep Pidge with him who leaned against him while they both ate their own breakfast. With everyone awake their conversation grew more lively turning to their plans for the party.

  


After everyone had eaten and were more awake they decided to tidy away the pillows and blankets, they wouldn't be needed after today and besides they didn't want Keith to trip over them when he came stumbling out of the pod.

  


And they waited.

  


No one dared leave and as the minutes ticked into hours they grew more and more anxious.

  


“Shouldn't he be out by now?” Pidge asked her face pressed up against the pod again. She tapped the glass impatiently and scowled.

  


“Any tick now I'm sure of it,” Coran answered. Pidge sighed pushing herself away from the pod she sat on the ground next to Lance and leaned on him sulkily.

  


“He should be out by now. He's keeping us waiting even longer than you did,” she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, shoving Lance lightly with her elbow.

  


“Yeah but I'm worth the wait. Keith is just being a drama queen,” Lance scoffed earning a wry smile from the others.

  


“Come on, you could at least pretend to agree...” Lance sulked sounding almost hurt when the silence stretched on too long for his liking.

  


There was no time for the others to respond to that as the hiss of the pod opening filled the room.

  


“Keith!” His earlier words forgotten Lance jumped up, sending Pidge, who had been leaning on him, tumbling over onto her back. He ran to the pod catching Keith as he stumbled out of it.

  


“Keith! Keith you're awake!” he cheered, squeezing Keith tightly he jumped up and down with him.

  


A moment later Lance was on the floor his arm twisted behind his back, Keith's knee pressing against his thigh pinning him to the floor.

  


“Why does this always happen to me? Keith, this isn't funny!” Lance whined.

  


“Who the hell are you? Where am I!?” Keith barked, his tone harsh and demanding. His eyes darted around urgently, his gaze eventually landing on Shiro, where he froze. His grip on Lance loosened giving the brunette the opportunity to escape.

  


“Shiro, what happened to you? Why aren't you on Kerberos?” He stared at Shiro as if it was the first time he'd seen him, the first time he'd seen his white hair and metal arm. Everyone stared at Keith with expressions of shock and confusion while Coran groaned softly his hand over his mouth.

  


“It seems Keith may have lost some of his memories...”

  


“You can't be serious!” Lance was the first to recover his voice, his shout enough to draw everyone else from their shock.

  


Keith already wary and on edge grew more tense and looked about ready to bolt.

  


“Keith what's the last thing you remember?” Shiro stepped forward, his voice steady and calm though his thoughts were racing.

  


Keith relaxed a little, allowed Shiro to move closer though he still seemed cautious.

  


“You've only just left for Kerberos, you shouldn't be back for months...” Keith's words sounded more like a question as he studied Shiro, stared openly at the white tuft of hair, the scar across his nose and his metal arm. He looked older, as if he'd been through a lifetime's worth of hardship in a short amount of time. It was Shiro, but not the Shiro he knew. If he wasn't the Shiro who'd left for Kerberos, then who was he?

  


“That's the last thing you remember? You don't remember how the Garrison reported the crash? How...how we went missing?” Shiro encourage, hoping to jog Keith memory.

  


“Crash? Missing? Shiro what crash, what happened? Are you ok?” Keith asked frantic now as he stepped closer to Shiro looking over him for any other obvious signs of injury. Well, apart from the arm and the scar.

  


“Relax, Keith. There wasn't really a crash, the Garrison lied,” Shiro reassured him, though sometimes he wished there had just been a crash. It seemed a better option than what had really happened.

  


“The Kerberos mission...well I'll explain later,” Shiro swallowed thickly memories he'd rather forget coming back to him.

  


So Keith was missing over a year’s worth of memories, which included everything to do with Voltron. This wasn't going to be easy.

  


Keith's attention moved away from Shiro, sensing the other man needed a moment to collect himself. Keith let his gaze travel across the other people in the room hoping to see a familiar face. His gaze lingered first on Coran and Allura, who were such an extraordinary pair Keith was sure he'd never seen them before. He would have remembered someone who stood out so much.

  


His gaze then moved to the loud mouthed boy who was glaring at him angrily. Keith had no idea why he looked so furious, sure Keith had twisted his arm behind his back and pinned him to the floor but he'd been startled, it was nothing personal. The brunet looked like he wanted to throttle him, so Keith scowled which made the other’s expression darken.

  


Keith looked passed him turning his attention to the larger male standing beside him. He looked about the same age as them and was giving Keith a look of such pure pity Keith had to look away.

  


Then he saw Pidge.

  


“Shiro….did Matt shrink or something?” He asked his hissed whisper carrying easily across the silence so everyone heard. Pidge's jaw dropped and Shiro, despite himself, had to bite back a laugh.

  


“That’s not Matt, Keith. That's Katie Holt, his sister.”

  


Keith’s jaw dropped.

  


“She’s a girl.” He stared at Pidge for a moment, who shot him a challenging look, before he turned back to Shiro.

  


Shiro nodded.

  


“She’s your friend, all of us here, we're all your friends. We’re a team.” Shiro added.

  


Keith looked at them again, seeing nothing but strangers and one person who looked like someone he'd only met in passing because of Shiro. The two boys looked vaguely familiar, as if he might have seen them around somewhere before but he was sure he had never so much as talked to any of them. And they were a team? What did Shiro mean by that? Why were they here?

  


“I don’t remember…” Keith muttered shaking his head.

  


Lance, who had never been one to stay quiet or listen to that little voice in the back of his head, lost what little patience he had.

  


“Are you seriously telling me you still don’t remember me even with your memories reset back to when you were still in the Garrison?!” He demanded storming over to Keith ignoring Shiro as he flailed his arms in warning, trying to stop him, but Lance’s temper was too quick.

  


He stood right in front of Keith, ducking his head slightly so he could glare into Keith’s eyes their foreheads pressed challengingly together. Keith didn't blink and pressed forward refusing to let Lance control the situation.

  


“Never seen you before in my life. Pretty sure I’d remember someone so obnoxious,” Keith smirked almost regretting his words at the expression that flitted across Lance face. He looked almost pained and Keith’s heart ached at the sight of it but it was gone a moment later and Lance was stepping back, his arms thrown up in the air.

  


“Unbelievable!” He yelled and Keith momentarily forgot about that look as Lance’s anger returned.

  


“See if I ever cradle you in my arms again, you jerk.” He huffed, which was not the parting remark Keith expected. Before he even had the chance to process what Lance had said, the brunet had shoved passed him and stormed out of the room.

  


“What’s his problem?” Keith asked, staring after Lance with a look of utter disbelief before turning his attention back to the ones who were still in the room.

  


The group shared knowing looks that made Keith squirm, as if somehow he'd done something very wrong. Shiro sighed running his fingers agitatedly through his hair.

  


“That was Lance.” Shiro began by way of an explanation as if that covered everything.

  


“Lance?....Wait that name sounds familiar. Isn’t he a cargo pilot?”

  


“Lance isn’t a cargo pilot!” Hunk didn’t yell, but his raised voice was such a shock he may as well have, even Shiro looked taken aback.

  


Hunk himself looked a little shocked his face flushed lightly in embarrassment but with a reassuring pat on the arm from Pidge he continued.

  


“I mean, sure, he was in the cargo class for while but then he made it to the fighter class. And he’s not a bad pilot, I mean sure he shows off and gets cocky so most of the time he crashes the simulator and I used to get really bad motion sickness so I was always distracting him by almost throwing up during every simulation but he never asked for a new team or tried to get rid of me you know.” Hunk finished taking a deep breath finally remembering to breathe.

  


“All I’m saying is… don’t remember him as just a cargo pilot.”

  


“I never said ‘just’ a cargo pilot,” Keith replied softly.

  


“Oh...right yeah well of course no you didn’t but like it’s probably best you don't mention it to Lance. He doesn't like being reminded of it, and he's really good at piloting Blue now,” Hunk said.

  


“Is there something wrong with being a cargo pilot? You still have to be able to fly and not crash, the Garrison isn't that easy so even if he was in the cargo class he had to be a decent pilot.”

  


Everyone stared at Keith silently.

  


“What?”

  


“Nothing, it’s nothing,” Shiro smiled and even his smile looked different as if he’d almost forgotten how to.

  


“But maybe you should tell Lance that, it might help you make up,” Shiro added patting Keith on the shoulder.

  


“What I should tell him ‘hey, you can probably fly without crashing, good for you’?”

  


“Maybe a little more encouraging than that,” Shiro's smile was more strained now and Keith felt as if he’d missed something.

  


He looked around still feeling totally lost. There were so many questions he didn’t know where to begin but then he caught sight of the view out the window. An impossible view.

  


“Shiro….are we in space?” he asked breathlessly.

  


Shiro chuckled.

  


“About that…”

  


* * *

  
  


“So you’re telling me aliens are real, and these guys are like….space elves.” Keith said as he stared at Coran and Allura unashamedly. He hadn’t noticed their ears or strange marking before and now that they’d been pointed out, he couldn't tear his eyes away.

  


“Keith...” Shiro warned, it coming out as more of a groan thanks to Keith’s lack of tact.

  


“Oh it’s quite all right, I'd quite like to learn a little more about these elves you mentioned.” Coran chuckled. Allura didn't look quite as impressed, but she was trying to be nice about it.

  


While Shiro gave Keith the condensed version of events, Hunk had left to find Lance while Pidge had wandered off muttering something about research leaving the four of them alone.

  


“Yes, but we’re Alteans,” Allura couldn't help correct him.

  


“Right, Altean...sorry...” Keith corrected himself, though he was still staring.

  


“Anyway, why don’t we go get something to eat? We can talk about this later, you've been in that pod for a while. You must be hungry,” Shiro chipped in, trying to draw Keith’s attention away from the irritated Altean woman.

  


“Actually now that you mention it…but, uh ,can I get changed first?” Keith finally tore his attention away from the two aliens, turning instead to his own appearance and the skintight body suit he wore.

  


“Sure, I’ll show you to your room.” Shiro said.

  


* * *

  
  


They arrived in the dining room several minutes later to find Hunk and Lance already half way through their meal. Lance looked exhausted but he perked up as they entered, or bristled would be the correct term as he snapped to attention, glaring at Keith warily.

  


He said nothing and neither did Keith as he moved to the table and took the seat opposite Lance. Shiro and Allura took a seat at the table, watching the two boys carefully while Coran went to fetch a bowl of goo for them.

  


“You’re a fighter pilot right? I remember you now,” Keith lied, it was a little white lie and not exactly taking Shiro advice but he figured it would work just as well to help patch things up between them.

  


“Yeah…” Lance stared at him for a moment almost as if he didn’t believe him but then his expression flipped into a cocky grin as he sat back in his seat, rolling his shoulders.

  


“Yeah that's right. I’m a fighter pilot, we were basically rivals at the Garrison. Pretty sure I wiped the floor with you a couple of times, it was pretty humiliating, so it’s no wonder you didn't remember right away.” Lance smirked, it was an outright lie that even Lance didn’t seem to believe judging by the way he was hamming it up but if it made him feel better Keith wouldn’t say anything, and by the looks of it, neither would anyone else.

  


“Anyway, did you remember anything else?” Lance asked, his cocky grin slipping into an expression of genuine concern that he couldn't mask. Keith finally started to believe that they might be teammates after all, or at the very least Lance cared enough to worry about him, which he supposed was a good start.

  


“Not really. Shiro filled me in on a few things, like the alien abduction thing, getting kicked out of the Garrison, finding that blue robot cat and getting here but none of it's familiar,” Keith shrugged, suddenly looking and feeling very small.

  


“Lion,” Lance corrected a little snappily, but his smile was soft.

  


“Blue is a mighty, majestic lion, not a little house cat. And Red too. Shiro told you about Red, right?” Lance asked looking at Shiro in sudden alarm worried he might have said something he shouldn't have.

  


“Shiro told me about the lions and Voltron but I don't really understand any of it...” Keith answered with a shrug.

  


“We can give you a full explanation later, maybe even run a few drills in our lions but first you need to eat,” Shiro said brightly as Coran returned with the food, setting a bowl down in front of Keith before moving over to Shiro and Allura.

  


“What is that?” Keith asked staring dubiously at the supposed food that did not look like an edible shade of green. Lance smirked.

  


“Oh just something you’re going to have to get used to all over again,” he snickered, enjoying the look of disgust on Keith’s face a little too much. It had taken them all a while to get used to the strange food and now Keith had to go through it a second time.

  


Irritated at Lance’s smirk, Keith dug up a generous spoonful of the wobbly goo and shoved it in his mouth. He regretted his rash decision almost immediately. Lance laughed loudly at the expression that passed over Keith’s face and even Hunk had to duck his head to hide a grin.

  


“I think I'm going to be sick,” Keith muttered around the mouthful of goo, his hand pressed over his mouth as he tried to swallow it all and not just spit it out in Lance’s stupid, cute, grinning face.

  


“You eat this stuff?!” he asked incredulously once he finally managed to force the goo down. Lance was still chuckling at his expense.

  


“Oh man, your face! But yeah unfortunately we do, you get used to it after a while, or maybe it's just so gross that it kills your taste buds.” He shrugged, setting down his own spork and leaving his goo half finished.

  


“Hunk you have some of those weird alien ingredients left over right? Think you can whip something up?” Lance asked, turning to his friend as he took pity on Keith.

  


“Oh sure, it’s probably best to start him off on something a little more normal. I mean he was in that pod for like three days.” Hunk reasoned with a nod.

  


“Right, I’ll help,” Lance replied jumping to his feet he followed Hunk to the kitchen.

  


“Did he say alien ingredients?” Keith asked as he stared after the two.

  


“Yeah, but don’t worry it tastes a lot better than this goo,” Shiro said before taking a bite of his own meal without even flinching. Keith shoved his own bowl away. He'd take his chances with the other alien food. Allura and Coran ate quietly, trying to hide their own amused grins.

  


“See, Lance isn’t a bad person, he was just a little…upset earlier,” Shiro said as he smiled knowingly at Keith, interrupting his train of thought as he stared at the doorway Hunk and Lance had disappeared through.

  


“I dunno. He seems like a huge jerk,” Keith muttered, though his words held little venom. He was rather sore from Lance laughing at his reaction to the food but it hadn’t been a cruel laugh, not really. It was jovial and familiar, the way friends would laugh at each other without any malice. Plus he had a pretty smile that had lit up his tired eyes, a smile Keith might have grinned back at if he hadn’t been stopping himself from throwing up. And Lance had been the one to suggest an alternative meal and offered to help prepare it so yes, Keith knew he wasn’t really a jerk.

  


Shiro’s lack of reply told Keith he already knew what Keith was thinking.

  


Hunk and Lance returned a short while later carrying a tray of food each with Pidge in tow. Probably drawn by the promise of almost real food, she carried a tray as well. There was a lot of food.

  


“Figured we may as well lay out a proper spread,” Lance said with a flourish as he set the tray down, then fell into the seat beside Keith. Pidge and Hunk set their own trays down a little more carefully but both were smiling with an enthusiasm that mirrored Lance’s. It wasn’t the lavish party they had planned before Keith came out of the pod, and all the food they ate now would take away from their supply for any future celebrations but they still had reason to celebrate so no one complained. Shiro smiled fondly as he watched them.

  


The food on the table now looked more appetising, if a little strange. Keith's mouth watered at the prospect of a meal that didn't make him nauseated and for a moment he couldn't move, couldn’t decide what to try first.

  


The others weren’t quite as indecisive as they grabbed for their favourites without waiting for Keith.

  


“Hey I was going to try that,” Keith snapped as Lance whipped a bowl he’d been eyeing up right from beneath his nose. Whatever it was it suddenly looked far more appealing after Lance had grabbed it.

  


“Whatever, man. You snooze, you lose,” Lance said as he dug the space spork into the dish and helped himself to a large portion.

  


“But it’s the only one! At least let me try it,” Keith insisted stubbornly.

  


“No way, there’s plenty of other stuff,” Lance retorted, holding the bowl close to his chest. Keith would not be deterred, he held up his spork threateningly and glared at Lance.

  


A few short seconds of scuffling later and Keith held onto the bowl triumphantly, though Lance hadn’t really put up much of a fight.

  


“Fine, fine you can have it. I'm not going to fight an invalid,” Lance huffed grabbing another bowl instead. Keith happily ignored the comment as he dug into food that didn’t taste awful.

  


“What is this?” It didn’t taste like anything he’d ever tried before.

  


“It's good right! Hunk's a genius,” Lance said proudly as he gave Keith a quick explanation of what had gone into the dish, or at least that they thought it was equivalent to, and the alien planet they’d found it on.

  


He grabbed other dishes, pressing them onto Keith, getting him to try practically every single one and hardly eating anything himself as he explained all the dishes to the red paladin and made sure he ate properly.

  


Pidge didn’t even bother to hide her snigger as she watched Lance fuss over Keith and even a gentle kick from Hunk didn't stop her. Luckily, the other two were too engrossed in the food to notice.

  


“Here, finish this,” Keith said passing the dish he’d stolen off Lance, which was still half full, back to the brunette as another dish was shoved in front of him by an excited Lance.

  


“Thanks,” Lance grinned, finishing off the dish happily while Keith tested everything Lance had recommended.

  


The food was quickly polished off between them all and everyone sank back in their chairs with sighs of satisfaction.

  


“Well then, now that you’ve all eaten and had a few moments to recover, I'd like to run a few checks on you Keith if that's all right. Just some basic tests, won't take a few ticks,” Coran broke the silence, shooting Shiro a meaningful glance as he tugged at his moustache.

  


“Oh ok…sure,” Keith looked a little anxious at the prospect of ‘tests’ but with a reassuring nod from Shiro, he got to his feet and followed Coran out the room.

  
  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, hi, I haven't given up on this fic. I have no excuse for taking so long to update besides allowing myself to get sidetracked and focusing on other things. I hope this late update makes up for things, and I hope that the next update won't take as long.... 
> 
> Hope you enjoy this new chapter! <3  
> 
> A big thank you to acidsbeats on tumblr for betaing chapter 1 a while back, and to Lori T and SuccubustyKisses for betaing chapter 1 and 2 after i finally got around to editing everything.

The other three paladins waited until the final echoes of Keith and Coran's footsteps faded, tense eyes trained on the door each of them holding their breath. The silence that followed lasted barely a second before the group rounded on Shiro and all speaking at once.

  


“Ok, so why does Keith only remember you and not the rest of us?” Lance jabbed a finger toward Shiro indignantly, his over exaggerated tone and arm movements only accentuating his jealousy.

  


“Maybe if we knock him over the head again? That always works in movies,” he added with a thoughtful mutter that Shiro only just caught in the din of voices.

  


“How will this affect your teamwork? Your battle capabilities? We'll have to run some drills right away, we can't risk getting blindsided by Zarkon.” Allura said, her tone forceful and brisk as she attempted to mask her anxiety with a productive course of action. In the commotion, no one paid attention to her threat of extra training.

  


“How much has Keith forgotten? Does he remember his own name? Can he remember how to tie his shoelaces? Oh no! What if he's forgotten how to fly his lion?” Hunk fidgeted, wringing his hands together.

  


“If it is his memories that are affected then maybe we can try that thing we used on Sendak. You know just extract the memories out of Keith and play them back to him, do you think that would work?” Pidge chirped excitedly. Pressing her hands on the table, she leaned forward, her glasses glinting at the prospect of a new project to tinker with.

  


Shiro sighed his shoulders sagging beneath the bombardment of words. What had he done to deserve this? He should have gone with Keith.

  


He waited until the din died down and everyone had said their piece before he spoke.

  


“Keith and I have known each other for a very long time, that's why he remembers me,” Shiro explained, flexing the fingers of his Galra hand, curling them into a fist then releasing them, taking a deep breath as he did so.

  


He was a different person now, different than the one Keith knew. Shiro hadn't thought about it until then. He'd been trying very hard not to think about how much he'd changed, mentally as well as physically. The way Keith looked at him when he first came out of the pod, as if he was a total stranger, brought all of that into sharp focus, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it.

  


“And you can't hit him over the head again. This isn't movies Lance, that won't work.” He chided gently a hint of an amused grin tugging at the corners of his lips. He was fairly certain Lance was only joking, but just to be safe.

  


“We fly around space in giant robot cats fighting aliens. Stranger things have happened,” Lance huffed defensively, crossing his arms over his chest in a stubborn sulk.

  


“Princess, at the very least I don't think you need to worry about Keith's combat skills. He's always been a skilled pilot and a fighter. However, our teamwork might require a bit of reworking, so I think running some drills is an excellent idea. The sooner, the better. We have been rather lax lately.” A chorus of long drawn out groans greeted Shiro's words. Only Allura looked pleased. She clapped her hands together and beamed from ear to ear.

  


It may have seemed harsh agreeing to drills so soon after Keith woke up, but flying some formations and maybe forming Voltron wouldn't put too much strain on him, and they had all been resting for too long. Besides, it was probably a good idea to confirm if they could still form Voltron or not before they were ambushed by the Galra or another roebeast.

  


“As for Keith's memories, well he's only lost around a years worth, so he probably still knows how to tie his shoelaces.” Shiro fixed Hunk with a reassuring smile before turning his attention to the other two. They'd all been there when Keith recovered consciousness and witnessed his confusion and all that went with it, but this was their first confirmation of how extensive Keith's memory loss was.

  


A year might not have been a long time for most, but after everything that happened to them, a year felt like a lifetime.

  


Lance's expression twisted into something unreadable at the revelation, and although it was gone a moment later, a dark look remained in his eyes. “So he doesn't remember the Kerberos mission going missing...” he mumbled. Everyone winced.

  


“But hey, now he doesn't have to go through that whole thinking you're dead again,” Lance added quickly with a forced smile that quickly fell as soon as he realised what he said, “uh, sorry Shiro.”

  


Shiro shook his head and smiled. “No, you raise a valid point.”

  


“Anyway, if it's only a year then what's the problem? Keith’s a piloting genius or whatever so we don't need to worry about that stuff,” Lance huffed with a dismissive wave of his hand, and although he sounded exasperated, there was an underlying note of admiration there too that no one missed.

  


“However, forming Voltron may be another matter,” Allura cut in, the grim voice of reason speaking the concern that was on everyone's minds. Lance's shoulders sagged, Pidge bowed her head a glint of light on her glasses hiding her eyes, and Hunk dropped his arms heavily to his sides. It had taken so much for them to learn to form Voltron in the first place, and now they would have to do it all over again, with one of their teammates back at square one.

  


“Red will still accept him though, right…?” Hunk whispered. The air in the room grew heavy, stifling. Piloting ability was one thing, but there was also the bond with their lions to consider. Learning to form Voltron wasn't the only thing Keith was going to have to relearn.

  


Allura squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, regal and defiant. “The red lion will not reject him. The bond between lion and paladin is no so easily broken.” Her voice was steady, sure, and no one questioned her words. They'd all see it first hand when Zarkon took control of the black lion, and when he'd tracked them using his connection with the lion.

  


“Besides I can still feel their bond, there is no mistaking that Keith is the Red lion's Paladin,” she added softly, her hand pressed over her heart. She paused a moment taking a deep breath before allowing her hand to fall away from her chest and onto her lap.

  


“However,” she continued gravely, “If Keith truly doesn't remember a thing about his time here, with Red, then it may put a strain on their bond. The Red lion may not be able to communicate as well with Keith, and Keith might not be able to connect with her. He may need to solidify his bond with her and learn to pilot her all over again.”

  


“We've overcome plenty of obstacles in the past. We'll find a way through this one, together,” Shiro barked authoritatively noticing how everyone around the table had sunk into an even darker mood. He was feeling it too. But wallowing in that now would not help anyone.

  


“What about Pidge's suggestion?” Shiro broke the glum silence, shooting the girl in question a proud smile before turning to Allura. It was the most sensible one he'd heard so far, and it sparked a hope in his chest that it just might work.

  


Allura didn't look so sure. “I've never heard of it being used to help someone with amnesia. You see the thing with memory extraction system is it only works properly on willing participants.” There was no need to mention the incident with Sendak, and the struggle they'd had to extract anything of use from him.

  


“The purpose of the machine is to record and preserve memories that the user wishes to be saved. The subject is in control of which memories are recorded, and which are not,” Allura explained carefully. The others stared at her intently, varying degrees of understanding showing on their face.

  


“In Keith's case, while he may be willing to use the machine, he will be less guarded. The memories he's forgotten will be far too easy to extract, and it will make his other memories vulnerable too. He will have little control over what is recorded, which runs the risk of the machine bringing to light something Keith would rather forget. It could be quite traumatic for him, and with his memories so unguarded we might end up seeing something Keith would rather keep to himself. It's too risky.”

  


The spark of hope in Shiro's chest flickered out. Of course, nothing would be that easy. “I see. We can't put Keith through that,” he agreed. And as excited as she looked about the idea earlier, even Pidge didn't argue. They were all quiet again, none of them wanting to speak the niggling thought at the back of their mind. That if Keith's memories didn't come back, and it affected Voltron, then they may be forced to use the machine. It was either that or find another Paladin...

  


“What about those mind-meld devices we used during training?” Lance spoke up drawing everyone's attention to him.

  


“Wouldn't that just be the same thing?” Hunk said slowly reluctant to shoot his friend's idea down so quickly, but he couldn't help point out the glaring flaw. Lance shook his head.

  


“I don't mean us digging around in Keith's head, but we could show Keith our memories. All the battles we've fought together and all that stuff. The things he's forgotten. If we show him what we remember it might jog his memories.”

  


“That could work,” Allura mused an edge of excitement to her voice now. “We'd have to be careful what we show him of course, but it should be much easier on Keith,” she beamed smiling with relief. Shiro felt the flicker of hope come alive again, he smiled gratefully towards Lance.

  


“So we're going to be poking around in each other's head holes again?” Hunk asked sounding far too happy at the prospect.

  


“No head hole poking!” Pidge snapped. “We need to set up some ground rules now. We only show memories we're happy to show, and no poking around in people’s heads to get a better look, especially Keith's,” she finished shooting a meaningful look at Hunk.

  


“Why would you want to poke around in Keith's head anyway? He probably just has a load of emo songs playing on repeat up there,” Lance scoffed earning a groan from everyone.

  


“We'll set the ground rules for the mind-melding session later when Keith is here, but no one will be forced to share anything they don't want to. And there will be no forced digging around,” Shiro pacified them.

  


“Aww,” Hunk's shoulder's slumped, disappointed, but he perked up a moment later turning to Shiro with a question. “How much do we tell Keith? Do we only tell him stuff if he asks, or should we like, tell him everything right away?”

  


Shiro paused for a moment considering his answer. It was a question he'd been pondering since Keith woke up, and truthfully, he didn't really have an answer, not one he was confident with anyway.

  


“I'm not sure,” he said honestly. He wasn't ashamed to admit he was just as lost as they were. None of them had any experience in dealing with amnesia. They were all flying blind.

  


“That is something we need to discuss when everyone is here, Coran and Keith included. Showing Keith some key memories, things that might jog his memories, is one thing. However, we all remember things differently. The way we think and feel about what happened is all bound to be different. So Keith's view on things could differ from ours, and we could end up altering his own perception of what happened by mistake and causing more damage in the long run.” Shiro spoke his concerns, pondering the things that could go wrong his voice steady but uncertain.

  


While the mind-melding exercise was a far better alternative to the memory extraction system, there were still risks, and even just verbally relaying things to Keith was risky. They would need to be careful.

  


“We can cover the basics and anything important, but it has to be in small steps, we don't want to overwhelm him,” Shiro said with more authority than he really felt. He silently hoped that Coran would better know how to handle things and take the lead.

  


The others nodded mutely in silent agreement though Shiro noticed the look of disappointment on Hunk's face as if he had been looking forward to telling Keith stories of their adventures. Even Lance looked torn. Shiro made a mental note to talk to them both later to make sure that neither over exaggerated their stories.

  


“Now that we have a plan of action the next, and most important move, is to see if you can still form Voltron,” Allura announced as she jumped to her feet. “I'll go fetch Keith and Coran and let them know we'll be starting some drills right away!” She looked positively gleeful as she dashed out the room her skirt swishing in excitement. Shiro made no effort to stop her even as the other three shot him pleading, meaningful looks.

  


“We have to get back to training eventually, better sooner than later,” he said defensively as he felt a particularly venomous glare from Pidge sear into his neck.

  


They didn't bother to answer. Instead, they trudged off dutifully in a dejected line, muttering words that were unintelligible and yet somehow, they were able to understand each other.

  


Well, at least the bond between the three of them was as strong as ever.

  


Left alone at the table Shiro grabbed one of the half-empty bowls of proper food and scarfed it down in several big bites. He hated the green goo just as much as the others and was determined to get his share of decent food that didn't taste awful. The coming training sessions were bound to be brutal, he needed it.

  


But Shiro had a duty to attend to, and as much as he wanted to, he couldn't just sit there and finish off all the food. The Black Paladin being late for training would set a terrible example. Keith would probably need help with his armour and would need someone to show him the ropes before they started.

  


Grabbing a final bowl, Shiro tipped the entire contents into his mouth, his cheeks bulging before he hurried off to change too. Once he was suited up, and no longer had his cheeks full of food, he rushed to the med bay to rescue Keith from Coran and Allura.

  


* * *

 

  


Coran was just finishing up some test on Keith, who looked tired and just a little overwhelmed when Shiro walked in. Allura stood to the side her gaze firm and impatient, and her arms crossed. She drummed her fingers against her bicep silently urging Coran to hurry up.

  


When Keith saw Shiro, he shot the other man a grateful, pleading 'please save me' look that made Shiro smile back reassuringly.

  


“Are we all done here?” He asked as he walked over to Coran.

  


“All done, for now,” Coran said with a carefree cheer that made Keith hunch his shoulders dejectedly.

  


“The good news is that apart from the memory loss Keith has a clean bill of health. You're as fit as a fiddle,” he added brightly, turning to Keith with a smile that made his moustache bounce.

  


“That great news,” Shiro said as he walked over to Keith standing tall and proud in his paladin armour, his shoulders back, chest out to better show off the sleek uniform. Keith stared with a look of curiosity and awe, his earlier discomfort at all the test apparently forgotten.

  


“Nice outfit,” Keith said nonchalantly as Shiro rested a hand on his shoulder. As cool as Keith was trying to play it Shiro knew he was impressed.

  


Shiro grinned maybe a little smugly.

  


“You get one too,” he said, grin growing at the excitement that lit up in Keith's eyes.

  


“And your very own lion, are you ready to meet her?” Shiro asked. Keith, still openly staring at Shiro's armour, nodded.

  


Allura gave a little cough, fixing Shiro with a stern glare before she left. He took that as his cue to get a move on.

  


“Come on, you need to get changed first,” he ushered, giving Keith's shoulder a squeeze before leading the way to the armoury.

  


“So what exactly is that suit? Is it alien? What sort of cool things can it do?” Keith asked in a rush as he stumbled after Shiro.

  


“It's an Altean armour passed down from Paladin to Paladin. Yours is red just like your lion. And as for the cool stuff….well it's more fun if you discover that on your own,” Shiro smirked challengingly.

  


Keith's eyes flared with the challenge. He picked up the pace walking quicker, practically shoving Shiro so they would get there faster. Shiro laughed.

  


At the armoury he introduced Keith to his red armour, giving him a quick explanation of how to put it on and fit everything together before stepping out of the room to give the other boy some privacy.

  


“How do I look?” Keith asked as he strode out of the room several minutes later. He stood tall in his red armour, with everything fitted securely in the right place, looking just like the red paladin, same as always. His suit had been cleaned and polished several times since the accident by a restless, anxious Hunk, and it now shone even brighter than Shiro's. It looked brand new.

  


“You look great. Just like a true paladin of Voltron,” Shiro said proudly and although Keith didn't fully understand what that meant, he pulled his shoulders back and stood a little taller.

  


“What next?” He asked after a moment his smile falling away to a more serious expression, his stance stiff and to attention.

  


“Now you get to meet Red. I'm sure she's been very worried about you.”

  


“Right, Red. That lion spaceship thing,” Keith muttered sceptically. Shiro understood, that with what little explanation he'd been given Keith didn't fully understand what the lions, or Voltron, was at all. But they were something better shown than explained with words, so he kept quiet.

  


Jumping directly into the cockpit didn't seem like the best idea, so they took the long way around, foregoing the zip-lines. With Allura's words of warning ringing in his ears, Shiro figured it was better to approach the Red lion directly, just this first time.

  


“Don't worry, the Red lion chose you,” Shiro said, smacking Keith on the shoulder as he noticed how tense the other was getting with every step. Keith stumbled, shooting a glare at Shiro before righting himself, then taking a deep breath to relax.

  


“Right, the lion spaceship. The sentient lion spaceship choose me,” he said with a nod, still sounding sceptical. Shiro bit back a chuckle.

  


“And you don't have to worry about training today, we'll ease you back into it. We'll just fly some formations so you can get the feel of flying your lion again. Allura might shoot at us a bit, but it's nothing to worry about, all you have to do is dodge,” Shiro said in a blasé manner as if being shot at was nothing to be concerned about. Keith stared at him.

  


“Wait wait wait, the alien elf chick is going to shoot at us? I thought she was on our side!” Keith yelped indignantly.

  


“Keith!”

  


“What?!”

  


Shiro sighed pinching the bridge of his nose. He'd really underestimated just how much there was to fill Keith in on. There were so many little things that were going to take a lot of explaining, such as how Allura liked to assess their reaction times by testing the castle's defences on them.

  


“Allura won't be aiming to hurt us. It's just a training exercise, some combat practice. All we have to do is dodge.”

  


Keith didn't look convinced.

  


“And what? Does she have a lion too? Is the purpose of the exercise to take her down?”

  


“No! Allura will be firing at us from the castle, we don't want to do any damage to our base. We only need to dodge, fly in formation and try to form Voltron. As soon as we do, Allura will stop firing at us…..probably.”

  


“Castle? What castle?”

  


“This castle. The ship is a castle.”

  


“So we're in a flying castle….in space?” Keith asked looking around him as if the plain, empty corridor they were walking down might suddenly look more castle-like. He looked a little disappointed when it didn't.

  


“You’ll see when you get out there,” Shiro sighed tiredly, he was starting to feel they were going around in circles.

  


They reached the Red lions hanger shortly after, Keith letting a groan of relief when Shiro announced they'd arrived.

  


“Why are these lions so far away? If they’re sentient can't we just…. call them to us. Like, here kitty kitty,” Keith mimicked calling to a cat, making those noises with his mouth that people for some reason always seemed to use when trying to get a cat’s attention. Shiro snorted hiding an undignified laugh with his Galra hand.

  


“That would be a bit difficult, none of them would fit down the corridors,” Shiro explained. Before Keith could ask what he meant by that, and just how big the lions were, Shiro opened the door presenting the Red lion to Keith with a sweep of his arm.

  


Keith stepped into the room cautious at first. His mouth dropped open in awe as he stared up at the Red lion, which in his mind he was seeing for the first time. He understood instantly what Shiro meant by them not fitting down the castle's corridors. Little did he know that Red was one of the smallest lions. He had a lot of surprises to come.

  


“Wow...” he breathed softly coming to a stop in front of the motionless machine. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen. Just a quick glance told him that the technology that went into building her far surpassed anything on Earth. She was a sleek, perfectly cat shaped machine, with an aura of power around her that made the air around Keith crackle, the little hairs at the back of his neck standing on end. Surrounding her was a glowing blue barrier.

  


“This is my...ship?” Keith paused, hesitating over the word ship. He saw now that 'ship' really didn't describe what the lions were. He wasn't sure if there was a word that could.

  


“Red choose you. She's yours,” Shiro reassured him.

  


Keith hadn't moved. Couldn't move. He felt far too intimidated, like her presence was pressing down on him, demanding.

  


“So uh, how do I get in?” He asked shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

  


“Well, that-” Shiro paused, cutting himself off suddenly. He had been hoping Red would just open up for Keith as soon as he walked in, but she too hadn't moved. She hadn't responded to their presence at all which in of itself was not unusual, but for Red, the most responsive lion, to not show some sign of acknowledgement after not seeing Keith for so long, was worrying.

  


Shaking off the sick feeling that was settling in his gut Shiro forced some confidence into his voice to answer Keith.

  


“You just need to talk to her. Tell her you're ok now and ask her to let you in.”

  


“Ok, talk,” Keith mumbled sounding a little less dubious, but still a little uncertain. Despite the presence, he felt he couldn't help but feel self-conscious about the idea of talking to, what looked like, a machine.

  


“So hi Red lion, ma'am, it's me Keith, your Paladin. You probably know I got hurt and that I've been out of commission for a while, but I'm all better now. I mean I've uh, forgotten a few things but I can still fight...so, let me in? Please,” Keith said stiff and nervous his words jerky. Shiro watched apprehensively and would have laughed at Keith addressing his lion as 'ma'am' if the whole situation wasn't so serious.

  


The Red lion remained motionless, and the blue barrier surrounding her seemed to shimmer for a moment, getting more solid.

  


“Shiro this isn't working,” Keith complained, turning to Shiro with a pained look of embarrassment.

  


“Uh right, let me try.” Shiro coughed, clearing his throat as he stepped forward towards the Red lion.

  


“Red lion it's me, Shiro, Paladin of the Black lion. I know things are a bit strange right now with Keith's memory loss, but I assure you he's still the same Paladin you knew. Could you please open up and let him in so that you two can renew your bond?” Shiro asked putting on his best voice of authority, hoping that his position as the head of Voltron might sway the lion somehow.

  


“She’s glaring at you,” Keith said flatly, unimpressed.

  


“What?” Shiro's gaze snapped to the lion's eyes hopefully, searching for some signs of movement but the lion looked just the same as before.

  


“Are you sure? How can you tell?”

  


“I dunno, I can just sorta feel it. Her eyes look different, like she's looking down her nose at you,” Keith scrunched his eyes up, squinting at his lions face.

  


“Actually, she looks kinda pissed, she's not going to eat us right?” Keith asked. Taking a step back he fell into a fighting stance, as if ready to get into a fistfight with a robot several hundred times his size should it attack.

  


“No Keith, she won't do that,” Shiro answered resting a hand on the other's shoulder until Keith relaxed his stance and stood normally. Well, Shiro hopped that Red wouldn't attack, but it was probably best not to antagonise her.

  


“But we should leave for today. The Red lion needs some time to adjust. Come on let's go meet up with the others.” He gave Keith's shoulder a gentle squeeze before letting go and making his way back towards the door.

  


Keith stood in front of the lion for a few seconds longer, his gaze fixed on her and head tilted to one side as if listening for something. Whatever it was he couldn't quite make it out, so he shook his head and turned away sharply from Red to follow Shiro.

  


* * *

 

 

“Keith can't get into his lion? Like at all? Isn't there some kind of emergency hatch we can open to just get him in? I'm sure Red will understand if Keith can just get in and talk to her,” Lance immediately cut in as soon as Shiro delivered the bad news.

  


“Although there is a way to get into the Lions manually should they power down, if Red refuses to lower her particle barrier then there is little we can do. And using force, particularly with the Red lion, is not the ideal course of action...” Allura trailed off fixing Keith with a look of pity that made him squirm. In fact, the whole thing made him squirm, everyone was acting as if he'd been told he only had a few months to live as if somehow they were all doomed. All Keith felt was mild disappointment. Sure it sucked that he couldn't fly the cool looking lion ship, but it wasn't as if it was the end of the world. Shiro had mentioned something about a battle, some enemies that they had to fight, but surely a castle would have other ships he could pilot?

  


“Keith is still the red paladin though right? He hasn't been kicked off the team altogether has he?” Hunk asked nervously shooting Keith that look of sorrowful pity he was starting to hate.

  


“No, Keith is still the red paladin,” Allura answered firmly with such conviction that even Keith felt he could believe her.

  


“The connection is still there, your quintessence is on the same wavelength, but it's like...” she paused lips moving soundlessly as she searched for a good analogy.

  


“An out of tune radio?” Pidge offered. Allura looked at her questioningly.

  


“It's like there's a connection there, but there's a lot of static too like you're not quite tuned in to the signal, so all that's coming through is a garbled mess,” she clarified.

  


Keith nodded. “I felt like I could almost hear her, or feel something, but it just kept slipping out of reach,” he said carefully with a deep frown. It didn't quite describe the feeling he'd had when standing in front of the Red lion, it was something far more profound than that, but it was close.

  


“That's wonderful!” Allura clapped her hands together with glee. The others turned to her with identical dubious expressions.

  


“The fact that Keith can sense Red means their bond is still very strong. We just need to work on their communication. The Red lion is most likely just concerned for Keith's welfare and doesn't want him to put himself in danger without understanding the risks,” Allura mused. She wasn't sure if it were true, but it was the sense she got from her own connection with the lions.

  


“So now we have to persuade Red to let Keith fight? How long will that take?” Shiro asked cautiously. It was the question they all needed an answer too. Being without one of the lions was literally a missing limb for them. They wouldn't be able to form Voltron, and their combat strength would drop dramatically. They would be at a considerable disadvantage. If a Galra fleet were to find them now...no one wanted to imagine how that fight would turn out.

  


“We'll find somewhere to lay low. Keith will need to face some intense training to bond with his lion again, and all of you will need to train together to reforge your team bond. It won't be easy,” Allura promised. In this situation, none of them groaned at the prospect of intense training.

  


“We'll work hard and focus on getting ourselves back on track. I'm sure Red will understand the urgency of the situation soon enough and stop being so stubborn, though we may need to assure her that Keith won't be throwing himself in danger quite so recklessly again.”

  


Keith balked at her words, not quite sure what he'd done to earn the stern glare Allura was directing at him.

  


“But that's all Keith does,” Lance muttered under his breath, his jibe a welcome distraction cutting through the awkward silence that followed Allura's words. It gave some light to the situation, Lance, behaving as he usually would despite the severity of it all, and some silently agreed with him.

  


“What is your problem?” Keith hissed in a challenge Lance did not rise to for once.

  


“Nothing,” he mumbled in reply arms crossed across his chest, shoulders hunched, closing himself off.

  


Keith scowled and looked as if he planned to say more, but Allura cut him off. “There's no time to waste,” she commanded sharply pulling everyone's attention back to her. “Since you are all in your armour you may as well run through some basic training drills together on the training deck. While you do that, Coran and I shall run some check-ups on the lions.”

  


“You heard the Princess, to the training deck,” Shiro took the lead, rounding the other four Paladins up he ushered them out the room.

  


“Do you really think Keith will be able to bond with Red again without his memories?” Coran asked once they were all gone.

  


Allura smiled wanly, but she kept her shoulders back, her posture straight. “I do. I believe in their bond. however,” she paused, letting out a heavy sigh before continuing, “their bond might not be the same as it was before.”

  


There was so much uncertainty, so much that they didn't know. She could feel it from Red, confusion and anger, and grief. The Red lion was hurt, pushing Keith away in her confusion, and not being able to communicate with her properly, Keith couldn't comfort or reassure her. The trust between Lion and Paladin, suddenly, felt far too fragile.

  


* * *

 

 

“Let's begin with the team focus exercise, we've been getting pretty good at that one,” Shiro suggested with forced enthusiasm.

  


“Sure, maybe this time Keith won't get in my way as much,” Lance smirked, earning a tired glare not only from Keith but the rest of the team as well.

  


“What's that supposed to mean?!” Keith demanded, his hands itching to curl into fists. Just when he was starting to think the other boy was tolerable, Lance did something to rile him up again.

  


“Nothing. Just saying last time we did this exercise I lasted longer than you, and you haven't been able to keep up since, despite your best effort, quite sad really,” Lance sighed with a shake of his head.

  


“Oh yeah? We'll just see about that!” Keith snapped back, predictably. Even without his memories, he responded to Lance's challenge the same as always. It was almost a relief for the others to see that things hadn't changed that much.

  


Pidge snickered softly to herself while Hunk gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes, his smile ruining the effect. Shiro didn't bother breaking up the argument this time, everyone was far more relaxed now, just this once it was probably ok to let them snip at each other.

  


“What exactly does this training exercise involve?” Keith growled stepping closer to Lance. He sounded angry about asking Lance for help, but even with the other three there he'd turned to Lance anyway.

  


Looking momentarily stunned Lance quickly regained his cocky demeanour shifting he stood with his hands on his hips, stance wide and strong. “Glad you asked Keithy boy, and just so you know you can come to me any time, with any questions you may have,” Lance preened with a condescending wink.

  


“Never call me Keithy boy again.”

  


“Don't worry Keithy boy, this is a simple exercise even you'll be able to understand the rules in no time.”

  


Keith's glare hardened, but Lance barely flinched as he went on to explain the basics of the exercise.

  


“So all we have to do is use our shields to make sure no one gets hit?” Keith huffed in exasperation as if it were the simplest task imaginable.

  


The others couldn't help but smirk along with Lance at Keith's confidence. He had a lot to relearn.

  


Briefing over, Shiro started the simulation, setting it to the lowest level to ease Keith back into things. As the session began, they all felt the familiar tingle along their arms as the shield formed on the bracer of their armour. They were so used to it, they'd forgotten to mention this little fact to Keith.

  


“Ah! What the hell!” Keith yelled shaking his arm a few times to try and dislodge the shield that appeared without warning.

  


“You're going to need that, that's your shield,” Lance grinned, moving over to Keith he nudged the other with his shoulder, leaning against him so they were almost back to back.

  


“Since this is basically your first time doing this, I'll do you a favour and partner with you this round, just make sure to watch my back in return.”

  


“Why would I watch your back?” Keith scowled, lowering his shield he looked over his shoulder at Lance, turning his attention away from the circular droids that had risen to the air and taken aim at them. He didn't feel the shot that hit him, but he heard Lance’s laugh and the taunt that followed as he fell through the floor.

  


“That’s why!”

  


Shortly after the others dropped their shields, letting themselves be shot so they could follow Keith and restart the simulation together.

  


“I thought you said you had my back,” Keith grumbled as they set up for another round.

  


“Well, I would have if you hadn't turned your attention away from the enemy. You gotta focus, Keith,” Lance grinned. Keith couldn't argue with that, he had been the one to drop his guard.

  


“Right, well, I'll have your back this time,” he promised, albeit reluctantly. He took up a solid position beside Lance, standing at a slight angle so they could guard each other. Shiro stood on Keith's left, Hunk was to his right, and Pidge stood a little closer to Lance with her back to Hunk.

  


Keith's eyes narrowed and his lips pursed in a hard line of determination as he focused on the session properly. He would not make a fool of himself again.

  


* * *

 

  


They lasted longer in the second round now that Keith had an idea of what to expect, and while he had no memory of fighting alongside them (with the exception of Shiro) he found his body naturally matched and followed their movements. In particular, it was almost too easy to shadow Lance, as if he'd been doing it for a long time.

  


They managed two passes, the level rising automatically once a set time had passed before the first person, Pidge this time, fell due to a slip up on Hunks part. In retaliation, she grabbed at his ankle on the way down, which had him getting shot too. With two of their teammates out Shiro gave the order for them to lower their shields so they could get tagged out and start again.

  


And so they carried on. The time passed in the same, laborious, monotonous loop of passing a few levels, one of them getting shot, then starting all over again, gradually improving each time until they'd almost reached the level they'd been at before.

  


“So how exactly do we win?” Keith called to no one in particular. The droids whizzed around their heads faster, sharper, but the droids weren't the only ones who'd improved. The team were able to spread out more now and react quicker. In practice, at least, they could still move as a fluid unit.

  


“Win? What do you mean win?” Hunk, who was currently the closest to Keith, answered.

  


“Like there has to be a way to end this right? It can’t just go on forever.”

  


“We’ve never actually gotten to the end..there might not be an end..” Lance mused.

  


“What?” That one moment of distraction was all it took for Keith to get tagged out. Without Keith watching his back, the second shot caught Lance right between the shoulder blades, Hunk not quite quick enough to pick up the slack of Keith’s absence.

  


They landed with a thump beside each other, Lance’s legs sprawled across Keith's chest.

  


“So what’s the furthest we’ve ever gotten in that exercise?” Keith asked in no apparent hurry to get up.

  


“Uh, level twelve or something? The bots start moving really fast then and pretty much fire non-stop.” Lance was equally as reluctant to move, even though they really should, considering the rest of the team would be falling through the ceiling after them at any moment, but he was sore and tired.

  


“Twelve huh?” Keith mused feigning innocent. Lance didn't fall for it, he saw the steel in Keith's eyes.

  


“Bet I can get to level fifteen before you!” he said in a rush, sitting up suddenly and jumping to his feet before Keith had time to react.

  


“Ha as if, you’ll be dropping out before we get to level thirteen.” Keith challenged quickly following him.

  


The next session began with a different air. The other three could feel the thrum of tension between Lance and Keith, though no one could guess what the two boys were up to, and no one wanted to ask. They stuck close to each other still but now seemed to be trying to one-up the other on who could guard the other better.

  


“Watch out samurai, your right side is completely open,” Lance taunted shifting his shield quickly to block a shot that was heading for Keith’s ribs.

  


“Yeah well so is yours,” Keith retorted raising his own shield to guard a shot that had almost hit Lance’s shoulder. Their focus was entirely on each other and the enemy around them which on the one hand was a good thing, they were watching each other backs, keeping each other safe, but it came at the cost of ignoring the rest of the team, caught up in whatever rivalry they were in the middle of.

  


“Lance, Keith, cover Pidge!” Shiro shot an order as he saw her being herded away from the group by the bots fire. The two of them were close to her and should be helping.

  


The order snapped them out of their own game somewhat, but now they were competing over who could guard Pidge while still defending the other, more effectively. Shiro sigh. Small victories.

  


“I don't need you guys constantly protecting me!” Pidge snapped moments later, their competitive protection more of a hindrance than a help. She made her way over to Shiro and Hunk, her mouth set in a stern, irritated line. Shiro didn’t bother berating the two boys again after that, with them so focused on each other this session would probably end soon.

  


Surprisingly, it was Shiro who fell first while guarding Hunk against a shot. Ordinarily, he could rely on Keith to be at his side, but the other boy was noticeably absent, and the second shot hit true striking him in the side. He fell through the floor, and out of the game. Hunk and Pidge followed dutifully after, thinking that would end the session.

  


“They still haven't come down,” Pidge commented evenly, tilting her head back to look up at the ceiling. Seconds had dragged into long minutes without any sign on the two missing members of the team. They could hear the muted sounds of gunshots, scuffled footsteps and the occasional yell. Keith and Lance showed no sign of giving up soon.

  


“Better go see what they're up to.” With a tired sigh, Shiro herded Hunk and Pidge back upstairs and made for the observation deck where they could get a birds-eye view of the training room. Lance and Keith were still fighting against the droids, standing back to back and moving together so fluidly it looked like second nature for them. The screens red 'level fourteen' which gave Shiro enough pause to give up on the idea of stopping the session.

  


“May as well see how this goes,” he shrugged. Turning away from the monitor he grabbed a couple of juice pouches from the stash Coran always kept in the room and tossed one each to Pidge and Hunk. Shiro could feel the ache in his own muscles, so knew the other two must be feeling it too. A rest would do them good, and besides, he was curious to see just how far these two 'rivals' could go when they worked together.

  


There was no bickering or attempts at one-upmanship. They only spent their effort on shouting out warnings or commands to each other, which neither hesitated to obey and occasionally dragging or shoving the other out of the line of fire when the response wasn't quick enough.

 

* * *

  


“My money's on Keith,” Pidge said before taking a slow sip of her juice.

  


Hunk snorted. “No way. Lance's got this, plus he has the advantage of remembering doing this before, he's not relying on muscle memory like Keith is,” he reasoned, loyal to the end.

  


Pidge scowled. Hunk raised a valid point, and Lance general combat and observation skills had improved greatly, along with the rest of them. But she had made her call, and it was too late to back out now. She took another sip of her juice. “Twenty gac.”

  


“None of us has money here Pidge, I'm not falling for that. If we're going to bet, then I want some of those spare parts you've been hoarding.”

  


Pidge tsked and squeezed the empty juice pouch. “Fine. But when I win, you'll help me with that experiment you keep saying can't possibly work.”

  


Shiro listened to their exchange and knew he should probably discourage gambling, especially when they were betting against their own teammates, but he was too distracted by the battle unfolding in front of him. The way they moved together, he couldn't imagine that it would come to one of them being the last man standing. If they fell, they would fall together.

 

* * *

 

  


Together the two of them steadily climbed the levels, showing no sign of quitting despite their evident fatigue. Both were breathing hard, hair plastered to their face drenched with sweat.

  


“You still keeping up there, samurai?” Lance grinned, swiftly moving his shield to block a shot aimed at Keith’s head, before snapping it back to block another shot aimed at his own torso.

  


“Haven't even broken a sweat,” Keith huffed between breaths, such a blatant lie that Lance laughed loud enough for the others to hear up in the observation room.

  


“Keep it together!” Keith barked, grabbing Lance by the arm, he yanked the distracted boy out of the line of another shot, lifting his shield to cover Lance from a second leaving himself exposed. Lance reacted quickly, moving his own shield into position to guard Keith before pulling on the other's arm and spinning them around, so they were in a better position again.

  


“I always keep it together, don't worry about me, mullet.” Lance winked and turned his attention back to the battle at hand.

  


They'd reach a level now where the droids flew around so quickly they were almost a blur. They whirled above their heads moving frantically and erratically, firing continuously. Occasionally one of the droids would break off and charge at them, even going as far as to bounce off their shields the attacks getting more and more aggressive.

  


Both of them were struggling, fatigue weighing heavily in every limb. Each hit to their shield jarring harder, their arms shaking to take the blow.

  


“This would be better if we had some sort of weapon,” Keith snarled, taking a swing at one of the droids as it charged towards him. He caught it with the edge of his shield, and it went veering off course, crashing into another of it's kind sending them both hurtling into the wall. They stayed down for a moment but then took to the air again.

  


Keith and Lance hunkered closer together, shields raised at angles in front of them in an attempt to cover themselves as much as possible. The shots were utterly unpredictable, and it was only luck, and some sharp reflexes that allowed to keep going.

  


A shot caught Lance's shield, the impact making him drop his arm. The deflected shot flew off at an angle and caught one of the droids directly in the middle sending it falling to the floor with a heavy thump. Several moments passed, and it did not get back up. The pair shared a sharp, meaningful look that turned into cocky smirks.

  


“Looks like we have a way to win,” Lance crowed. A new energy flooded through them, buoyed by the confidence of having a plan that might just work. It was better than doing nothing but guarding.

  


* * *

 

 

“Hey, how come we never thought of that?” Pidge questioned. She sounded bored, but there was a hint of frustration to her words.

  


“Probably because every other time we did this Lance would turn it into some sort of competition,” Hunk chimed in.

  


* * *

 

  


Drawing the droids fire towards them was easy enough, they were always aiming for them, but trying to get the shot to hit in exactly the right place on the shield so they could deflect it and aim it at the moving droids was another thing altogether. Despite the odds, Keith and Lance were determined to give it their all, while still making a game out of who could cover the other better and take down more droids.

  


But the new strategy came too late. The level was too high, the droids too quick, and they were too tired. It was inevitable they'd fall sooner, rather than later. A particularly daring move by Keith didn't quite work out how he wanted, and it left him wide open.

  


Lance saw it all happen in slow motion. He saw the moment the droid lined up to take the shot, and the moment Keith realised he'd messed up and that he wouldn't be able to move his shield in time to guard in time. For a moment everything stopped, even the sound around Lance faded, and he wasn't in the training room any more, but instead, he was in a low lit, purple hallway back on that mission and the Galra sentry stood before them, it's gun pointed directly at Keith's chest.

  


“KEITH!” Without thinking, and not even fully realising what he was doing until he was already moving Lance threw himself towards the other boy, crashing into him and effectively shoving him out of the way. The shot hit Lance's back. The ground opened up, and he fell through.

  


Thrown off balance, and without Lance to watch his back Keith was hit and followed Lance a moment later.

  
  


“Well….I wasn’t expecting that…” Hunk muttered looking at the empty training room the droids shutting down now that there was no one to fight.

 

* * *

  


Neither could get up, their bodies sprawled out in an uncoordinated mess of limbs where they'd fallen. Both boys lay there, struggling to catch their breath, chests heaving with the effort just to breathe. For several moments neither could speak until Lance managed to swallow enough air to spit out a few words.

  


“Ha, I win,” he croaked, punching the air weakly with his fist, and then let it flop down to smack Keith in the thigh.

  


“Win? How do you figure that?” Keith gasped between breaths.

  


“Heroic sacrifice trumps all.”

  


“Ha,” Keith scoffed, taking a moment to properly catch his breath before he tried to argue further.

  


“So that's the reason you saved me?” He said finally with a scowl, smacking an arm over Lance's face Keith stretched out in retaliation.

  


Lance's only reply was a muffled laugh, suggesting that that was probably the reason, but Keith heard the way the other boy shouted his name. The quiver in his voice, and the desperation as if he was afraid Keith might get seriously injured. There was more to it than that, more than just the adrenaline from training for so long.

  


It probably had something to do with the thing's he'd forgotten, so Keith didn't push the matter further.

  


“Do you think you can move?” Lance asked. His breathing was back to normal now, although his voice was still strained.

  


“Nope,” Keith admitted readily. His limbs felt like jelly, he didn't even have the strength to lift his head.

  


“Yeah, me either.”

 

* * *

 

 

Several minutes had passed, and there was no sign of Lance and Keith returning. While Keith, without his memories, might get lost, Lance knew the way back to the training room. They should be back by now. Figuring they might either be hurt or more likely arguing over something, Shiro went to look for them, leaving Hunk and Pidge to bicker over who had won their bet. Hunk insisted that Lance willingly taking the shot for Keith did not count as him losing. Pidge did not agree.

 

* * *

  


“Are you two coming back or not?” Shiro asked as he walked into the small room below the training room. Lance and Keith were still sprawled out on the mats. They hadn't moved an inch.

  


Lance groaned painfully in reply.

  


“Can’t move,” Keith answered simply.

  


“But we’re just getting ready for another round,” Shiro teased drawing agonised groans from both of them.

  


“No way. Please have mercy on us, Shiro,” Lance whined. Keith looked towards Shiro, pleading with puppy eyes.

  


“Well, I suppose you two did do very well to get so far,” Shiro pondered. Their expression both brighten, hopeful.

  


“But, you did kinda throw the rest of us under the bus.” Their expressions fell at exactly the same time, knowing exactly what they've done wrong.

  


“As leader, I should make you run through another session with all of us, you know, so you can develop those team working skills with everyone.” Shiro paused for a moment to revel in the looks of horror on their faces. They'd learned their lesson.

  


“But I think you'll be more of a hindrance than a help in your current state,” Shiro acknowledged with a sigh of defeat.

  


“Thanks, Shiro.” Keith groaned with relief, sinking back down on the mat.

  


“I'll be sure to tell Allura how this session went. She'll love to know,” Shiro added innocently. Lance paled, but Keith only looked mildly perplexed. Well, he would learn soon enough.

  


“You're evil,” Lance gasped, betrayed.

  


“Next time be sure to protect all of your fellow paladins,” Shiro countered before he turned away and left the room, leaving them where they lay.

  


“Wait, Shiro. I can't get up. Shiro? Are you really going to just leave us here?” Keith incredulous voice followed him, but Shiro did not reply.

  


“It's worse than that. He's going to send Allura.”

  


“How is that worse?”

  


Lance groaned and hit his head against the mat. He didn't want to explain. He was too sore, and he needed to conserve his mental energy for Allura's lecture.

  


* * *

 

  


“You are aware that this was a team-building exercise, correct?” Allura berated staring down at the pair eyes hard and narrowed. Both Keith and Lance had regained some control over their weary bodies now, enough to sit up and kneel on the mats in front of Allura while she scolded them.

  


“Sure Allura, but did you see how far we got? That has to be a new record!” Lance gushed. He couldn't help but brag even in the face of her wrath.

  


“I know, but to obtain that small victory, you sacrificed three of your teammates.”

  


“I wouldn't say we sacrificed them,” Lance mumbled his shoulders hunched. He knew they hadn’t been guarding the others as well as they should have, but it wasn't as if someone had died.

  


“Ma’am, while it’s true we may not have conducted this exercise as we were supposed to, we also learned a valuable lesson. The true goal of the exercise is to test ourselves against an enemy unarmed and use that enemies fire-power against them to get out alive. I believe next time we’ll reach that goal together,” Keith said, who had been sitting up his back straight and to attention all through the lecture.

  


Lance stared at him, eyes wide, and even Allura looked taken aback at the stiff, formal way Keith had spoken to her.

  


“Well, yes, that is a part of the purpose of this exercise, but there is really no need to call me ma'am. Allura will do just fine.”

  


“But aren’t you the commanding officer?”

  


“Am I? Oh, well I guess I am in a way, but really there's no need for formality, we are a team, and we fight together.”

  


Keith fidgeted, not sure how to respond.

  


“It's ok. Take your time,” Allura added kindly. “This is a lot for you to take in and adjust to, again.”

  


“Now,” she said more forcefully, her attention focused back to the matter at hand. “You lazy lumps have spent quite enough time loitering about here. Come on, get up!” She commanded. Grabbing them by an arm each she hoisted them to their feet as if they weighed nothing.

  


Keith, not expecting her to be able to lift both of them, almost fell right over and probably would have if not for Allura’s steel grip on his bicep.

  


“Since you are getting along so well now I trust I don’t need to chaperone you?” she asked earning a quick, sharp nod from both of them.

  


“Excellent now you two go clean up,. There will be a meeting in thirty doboshes.” She said before she left.

  


“Right time to hit the showers. Did Shiro show you where they were?” Lance asked. Keith shook his head.

  


“All right then follow me.” Lance grinned a spring in his step as he led the way.

  


“Lance?” Keith called after a moment causing Lance's steps to falter. He stopped and turned to face Keith.

  


“What's a dobosh?” Keith blinking up at him with big, wide violet eyes that looked almost concerned. The word 'cute' crossed Lance's mind, and he almost choked when he realised his mind attached that to Keith.

  


“A dobosh is a dobosh,” he barked, loud and forceful. He turned away from Keith and marched off at a swift pace, his steps wide and stiff. Keith had to break into a light jog to keep up with him.

  


“It's how the Altean's tell time, but to you and me it's about a minute.”

  


“Oh, so we have thirty minutes then,” Keith nodded in understanding.

  


Lance was still keeping up a brisk pace, and Keith jogged alongside him without asking any more question with those big, curious eyes.

  


* * *

 

  


After such a rigorous training session their suits were the first thing that needed to be cleaned and cared for. Wearing a sweat-soaked suit for the next mission or training session was not a pleasant prospect, so Lance led the way to the decontamination room, seeing as it was much easier to clean the suits while they were being worn.

  


“Decontamination room? I’m not contaminated!” Keith huffed sounding offended at the suggestion.

  


“Relax that’s just what Allura calls it. I mean it’s mainly for washing off all the space debris when we go out into space in the suits and stuff, but this place makes it easy to clean the suits. It’s like a Paladin wash,” Lance laughed at his own joke comparing the decontamination room to a car wash. Keith did not smile.

  


Lance rolled his eyes, moving over to the controls to start the cycle while Keith moved to the middle of the room standing awkwardly his arms crossed firmly over his chest. Catching sight of him from the corner of his eye Lance managed a wan smile, at least some things never changed.

  


The first stage began with them being bombarded with a soapy lather that Keith tensed against, not moving, not sure what he was supposed to do. Lance stood beside him with his arms outstretched, so the lather covered his entire body.

  


That was soon over, the second stage a shower of water raining down on them from the ceiling. Lance hummed happily as he rubbed the lather in, reaching for the various nooks and crannies the lather spray alone couldn’t reach. Keith hunched his shoulders against the rain of water. Why did Lance look like he was having so much fun?

  


“Come on, Keith, you need to get at those armpits,” Lance cheered, nudging Keith with his elbow. Keith narrowed his eyes at Lance.

  


The steady stream of water turned into powerful jets without warning almost startling Keith enough to make him uncross his arms. Instead, he pulled his arms tighter to his body and scowled.

  


“Oh, by the way, this room will be filled with water in a moment so don’t take your helmet off!” Lance warned at the last minute.

  


“What?” Any further questions were cut off as the room was flooded and Keith found himself floating away from Lance.

  


“This is ridiculous,” he muttered to himself glad to find that the suit provided air and he wasn’t about to drown. He turned his attention to Lance who was now swimming about the room happily humming to himself again. What was Lance’s deal?

  


The water quickly drained away, again without warning but both boys managed to land on their feet ready for the final stage. Lance shuffled none too subtly towards Keith standing just a little behind him crouching down as if he were trying to hide behind Keith. The raised eyebrow Keith shot him gained no answer Lance only smiled nonchalantly before the wind began.

  


The initial gust caught Keith by surprise, but he managed to keep his balance, his posture solid. Stance a little wider to brace himself against the wind.

  


Lance, even hiding behind Keith braced for the wind, stumbled and flailed. He crouched down further though his tall, lanky frame was still tugged about by the strong wind. Keith smirked the corners of his lips pulled up in an amused chuckled. If Lance just stood properly with a good, solid stance, he would be fine.

  


“Hey what are you laughing at?” Lance challenged.

  


“Nothing,” Keith answered innocently subtly shifting his stance, so he was more solid, covering Lance just a little more.

  


The gusting wind dried them off quickly and soon died down marking the end of the decontamination process. It was over, and Keith felt a lot better. Somehow, it felt as if the whole process had cleaned deep down all the way to his skin, and he would have happily foregone a shower.

  


But Lance had other ideas. “You still need to wash your skin and that greasy mullet. Come on!” He insisted, his tone indicating he would not take no for an answer, so Keith followed the brunette to the showers.

  


“These may be spaceship showers, but they still work like normal showers so I figure you can handle it or do you want me to help you?” Lance smirked, the cocky attitude showing he was only joking trying to get a rise out of Keith.

  


Keith was almost tempted to say yes just to wipe the smug look off Lance's face, but there was something more than that, a tug that pulled him towards Lance and made him think that sharing a shower with the other boy wouldn’t be so bad. Instead, Keith kept his mouth shut and stalked towards one of the showers a towel thrown over his head.

  


Lance didn’t bother him again after that until they were washed and dressed.

  


“What are you doing to your hair!?” Lance cried, walking over to Keith who was vigorously rubbing his hair dry with a towel.

  


“Uh..drying my greasy mullet. What does it look like?” he retorted.

  


Lance glared at him, looking for a moment as if he wanted to say something more, but he shook his head, letting it drop, muttering under his breath instead. “No wonder why your hair is such a mess.”

  


“Whatever. You heard Allura. We gotta get to that meeting, chop chop.” Lance clapped his hands together. Keith threw his towel at him.

  


* * *

 

 

They met in the lounge, everyone sprawled out on the circular sofa sunk into the middle of the room. They were trying to keep things casual, but even Keith could see the elephant in the room. That being his amnesia and what they were going to do about it.

  


Despite their efforts to sit comfortably, they were all stiff and awkward, eye flitting to him they quickly looking away, trying not to be obvious. It was extremely uncomfortable and put Keith more on edge than if they had just sat him on the opposite side of a table and shined a light in his face. Even Shiro looked at him with caution, struggling to find the right words.

  


“Well, we all know now that Keith, temporarily, cannot pilot the Red lion,” Allura began, her tone brisk but not unkind.

  


“And I truly believe this is only temporary, so there is no need for alarm. I have complete faith that Keith will be able to re-establish his bond. Our primary concern now is how we are going to help Keith regain his memories,” she continued directing an encouraging smile to Shiro so he could pick up where she’d left off.

  


“That’s right,” he said nervously, his gaze lingering on Keith for a moment before pulling away speaking to the group at large, “I’ve spoken with Coran, and we feel it’s better, for the most part, if Keith is allowed to remember on his own. That being said we don’t want to hide anything from you or make you doubt anything that's happening so if you have any questions, anything you want to know you are free to ask,” Shiro said directing his attention back to Keith.

  


Keith sat up a little straighter pondering Shiro’s words for a long, silent moment as everyone stared at him expectantly.

  


“Ok,” he nodded finally. Although there were hundreds of questions he wanted to ask, he could see the wisdom in remembering things on his own. Even with everything he had been told and seen so far no memories had come rushing back, so being told anything else would likely be overwhelming and confuse him more. He was confused enough as it was.

  


Shiro smiled gratefully and a little sadly with a look of pity that made Keith sink back into the sofa.

  


“Now we also need to consider how this will affect our combat power. Without the Red lion we won't be able to form Voltron, so we’ll need to avoid big battles. However, Keith is still a skilled fighter so we should be fine taking on smaller fights,” Shiro said.

  


“We will move around and hide as much as possible. For now, we’ll focus our efforts on answering distress signals, and utilize reconnaissance and stealth tactics to ensure that we don't bite off more than we can chew. Pidge, we'll be counting on your assistance for this,” Allura said smartly.

  


“And of course we will have to work more closely as a team and watch out for each other. This situation may seem a bit worrisome, but I believe it will help you all grow closer as a team,” Allura gushed determined to look on the bright side.

  


There was a dutiful chorus of agreement, although not everyone sounded convinced.

  
  



End file.
